AGENTS OF CHANGE: DEEPAK S. PAREKH 

One of the key steps in the sequence of events following the revelation of financial fraud at Satyam Computer Services Ltd, counted as the fourth largest Information Technology services firm of India until then, when the Government of India was forced to step in and take control of the firm, was the appointment of a board to take charge. Mr. Deepak S. Parekh was one of the three names that were nominated by the government as members of the reconstituted board of the company. Even earlier, he has been a part of various committees appointed by the government to solve various critical and contentious issues.

The long list includes the committees set up for reforms in the Insurance Sector, Banking Sector, Forward Trading in Indian capital market, Taxation of Life Insurance sector, Energy Review Committee to review the demand and supply of power with special reference to Enron's Dabhol Power Project etc.

Mr. Parekh was also a member of the Prime Minister's Task Force on Infrastructure, the Advisory Group for ‘Securities Market Regulation’, and the High Level Group for the restructuring of three weak Public Sector Banks. He has been an unofficial crisis manager of the Government of India for decades.

When government-owned Unit Trust of India (UTI), the largest asset manager in India that time, got trapped in to a deep trouble due to mismanagement, Mr. Parekh was entrusted to head the Committee for the revival of the Unit-64 Scheme of Unit Trust of India.

Mr. Parekh has been involved so much in the policy related matters or other responsibilities that for a moment one can forget his first identity – a one of the most successful bankers of the country and the Executive Chairman of India’s largest housing finance company, Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC).

The Indian government recognised his contributions in the field of trade and industry by awarding him the “Padma Bhushan”, India’s third highest civilian award, in 2006.