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"We at HDFC are not just managers, but entrepreneurs and leaders as well.''

Deepak Parekh

Chairman, HDFC Ltd.

In a little over two decades, the Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) has come to be regarded as a model financial institution.

``I have run this company as if I owned I00 per cent of the stock, although I didn't own even one-fourth of one per cent. I have acted as an entrepreneur. I have used interpersonal relationship skills, an open policy, and flexibility. At the start of my career I worked in structured organisations, where one had to go by the rules. I don't know if I could have continued in such a structured, caged environment and influenced a change. When you start from scratch with 20 to 30 people in the organisation, i t's a different ball game.

``...Although I had a number of opportunities to become my own boss, I never had the courage. I am a salaried person with a job. My mindset has not changed. I wanted to be a bank employee, and that is what I am. I got the opportunity to promote a bank wi thout owning it.''

Parekh's action agenda for change (at HDFC) put the customer centre-stage by:

* Focusing on customer service rather than eligibility criteria;

* Developing customer, friendly procedures;

* Suiting repayment methods to customer requirements;

* Simplifying the loan process; paring down paperwork to a bare minimum, speeding up approvals and computerising transactions;

* Reducing the number of times the customer needed to visit HDFC offices.

``It is going to be a millennium of `wealth and wisdom'. It is now abundantly clear that the days of the command economy are over. Even the staunchest Leftist now realises that you have no option but to follow the market economy. The constant worry is: W here will I find the money to pay the salaries of the Government employees? The biggest worry is: Where will I find the money to pay the interest on those heavy borrowings? The public sector too has that worry. The more I borrow, how will I repay? Everyo ne realises that we cannot do it to the last man because 40 per cent of our population is below the poverty line...

``Creation of wealth, enhancing shareholders value, return on capital employed (ROCE) is the language today's public sector managers are talking. The lingo has changed.''

The above excerpts are from:

Thought Leaders

The Source Code of Exceptional Managers and Entrepreneurs

By Shrinivas Pandit

Publishers: Tata Mcgraw-Hill

Price: Not mentioned

The author is a management counsellor who has earlier worked with Blue Star, Hardillia Chemicals, Johnson & Johnson and Siemens. At present, he is a Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development, UK.

Picture: Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC Ltd.