V Srinivasa Rangan has already drawn up his retirement plans. A dabbler in stocks, Rangan intends to continue to build a portfolio and spend time reading about what stock market gurus say. The executive director of HDFC is a big fan of Warren Buffett and is completely taken up with how the Sage of Omaha is able to express himself so simply and clearly.
Rangan, 63, is pleased with his own performance; he makes money in five out of every 10 investments. And it’s not just about cracking the financials. That’s easy for someone who has managed a balance sheet like HDFC’s and kept it spotlessly clean all these years. What really fascinates him is corporate strategy that distinguishes one company from another, and the fun of picking out promising plays.
His other love is the scriptures and right now he’s taking a course in the Upanishads. Rangan inherited this interest from his father, a purohit (priest) by profession. For someone who spends his day picking out interest rate hedges and matching assets with liabilities, reading from the Vedas or reciting the Vishnu Sahasranamam can have a calming effect.
Rangan recalls life was far less stressful in the days when interest rates on home loans were fixed. Today with the book full of floating rate loans, looking for liabilities can be taxing, especially since banks have a strong competitive advantage. With HDFC continuing to grow at a brisk pace — the loan book is expected to hit Rs 6.7 trillion by March-end — it hasn’t been easy to source low-cost funds even for a marquee brand. Getting the mix right between bonds, debentures, deposits and loans can be tough.
Nonetheless, as the record shows, Rangan has managed HDFC’s margins extremely well and with minimal risk across interest rate cycles. As he says, the rule has been to never have unexposed or open positions, especially for foreign currency exposures. He recalls how, many decades ago, the lender’s very first foreign borrowing was swapped with gilts in a special transaction with the government. Today, on a liabilities book of Rs 5.5 trillion, around Rs 2.5 trillion has been swapped.
The man with a head for numbers loves Bollywood films. An out-an-out Dharmendra fan, he says he watched ‘Yaadon Ki Baraat’ at least three times with his SRCC college mates and the actor’s other hits more than once. His favourite Bollywood numbers, mainly those by Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi, include ‘Pal, pal dil ke paas tum rehti ho’.
Not too many professionals do a lifetime’s work in a single organisation, but Rangan says he was never tempted by the offers that came his way. The conducive environment at HDFC apart, the mortgage player’s stock option too held its charm. At this stage of his life, he’s reluctant to let his sweet tooth get the better of him, but is willing to give in to spices, especially if it is his mother’s Puliyodarai.
