IDFC FIRST Bank CMD Gifts $500,000 of His Shares to House Help, Chauffeur

The 'banker with a golden heart', as called by netizens, has gifted about 38 percent of his stake since 2018.

CEO of IDFC First Bank Ltd V Vaidyanathan gifts $530,000 worth of shares owned by him to his support staff. Image used for representative purposes. 

(Photo: Screenshot/YouTube)

In a grand gesture of philanthropy, the CEO of IDFC First Bank Ltd V Vaidyanathan has gifted $530,000 worth of shares owned by him to his support staff, including his house and office helpers, chauffeur, and trainer.

Vaidyanathan gave 9 lakh shares or 3.7 percent of his holding in the private sector lender. The gesture, that is being well praised all over the internet, was to support his employees to build houses, according to an exchange filing.

The value of the holding is based on 21 February’s closing price.

“Calculated at Monday’s closing price of Rs 43.90 a piece on BSE, the value of the 9 lakh shares gifted by Vaidyanathan comes out to be Rs 3,95,10,000.”

PTI quoted the private sector bank as saying in a regulatory filing on 21 February.

Banker With a Golden Heart

The bank CMD distributed the shares in a manner that his trainer, Ramesh Raju got 3 lakh shares, whereas house help Pranjal Narvekar and chauffeur Algarsamy C Munapar received 2 lakh shares each. The office support staff Deepak Pathare and house help Santosh Jogale received 1 lakh shares each.

The 54-year-old banker, who has been named as the 'banker with a golden heart' by netizens, has gifted about 38 percent of his stake since the beginning of 2018. This was when he was the head of Capital First, which was merged later with IDFC Bank to form IDFC First Bank.

He previously has also gifted shares to his former mathematics teacher who had lent the now-CEO Rs 500 when Vaidyanathan was a broke student, had won admission into a prestigious college but couldn't afford to travel.

“Rukmani Social Welfare Trust has disposed of 2 lakh equity shares to support social activities... Thus, total shares disposed for gifts and social activities is 11 lakh equity shares of IDFC FIRST Bank, and it is submitted as part of these disclosures, that there are no direct or indirect benefits derived by V Vaidyanathan from these transactions.”

IDFC First Bank said

Shares in IDFC First Bank rose about 5 percent since 18 December 2018, when the bank was first formed. It made a commendable recovery from a 2020 slump caused by the pandemic and Vaidyanathan was re-appointed for another term that will end in 2024.

(With inputs from Bloomberg and The Indian Express.)