Deepak Parekh

Occupation: non-executive chairman of the HDFC group

Deepak Parekh was born on 18th October, 1944 in India. He pursued his Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Sydenham College of Bombay University and acquired a Financial Chartered Accountant degree from England and Wales. At present, he lives in Mumbai.

A pioneer in mortgage finance, Deepak Parekh have enabled scores of Indian middle class people to own their houses or apartments through affordable loans. He is based in Mumbai.

A Chartered Accountant, he began his career with Ernst & Young Management Consultancy Services in New York. After returning to India, he worked with Grindlays Bank and also Chase Manhattan Bank as its assistant representative for South Asia. Then he joined HDFC in 1978.

Mr.Deepak was promoted to Managing Director in 1985 and appointed as Chairman in 1993. He was instrumental in making the HDFC one of India's premier housing finance institutions. He also became the Non-Executive Chairman of Infrastructure Development Finance Company Ltd (IDFC), a Government of India enterprise for infrastructure projects in 1997. Mr Deepak is also the Non-Executive Chairman of Glaxo India Ltd & Burroughs Wellcome (India) Ltd and on the Board of Castrol India Limited, Hindustan Unilever, Siemens Ltd, Mahindra & Mahindra, Indian Hotels Company and SingTel. Also extremely supportive of youth leadership and thus is a proactive advisory board member of the world's largest student driven organization AIESEC India.

Deepak Parekh has played a very significant role in developing the financial sector of India and has also contributed in establishing French firms in India. According to the Government of France, Mr. Parekh has improved the relations of India and France in the economic sector. Mr. Parekh made it possible for the middle class people of India to own their houses or flats by providing them with loans at affordable rates.