Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC started 'budgeting' early in life

As a banker, Deepak Parekh is adept at managing other people’s money judiciously.

His training for the job started early, counting his pennies carefully as a student.

At a recent event at the London School of Economics (LSE), the HDFC chairman delivered the keynote address, responding to the theme of the conference: ‘If India is a superpower in the making’.

But first, he reflected on the time spent in London during his articleship (a part of his training for becoming a chartered accountant).

By his own sporting admission, one could figure out “how dated he is” when he shared that he celebrated his 21st birthday in London and his budget for a party of four was measured in shillings —a unit of currency formerly used by the UK and a few other Commonwealth nations.

It was discontinued in 1970-71.

Parekh said he had meticulously earmarked 2 shillings and 6 pence for each of his three guests and told them that they could eat whatever they wanted within that budget.

“But plans went awry, when the drinks f l o w e d , t h e y landed me with a grand bill of 13 shillings.

My friends had to shell out the rest, and, till date, they hold me to ransom for that party,” he said with a laugh.

The frugal living only enhanced the experience for the veteran banker, who considers his student days in London some of the best years of his life.

“While I was way too broke to have any dates, I compensated by experimenting with a lot of new cuisine — mostly an array of animals, much to the horror of my mother who had brought me up as a staunch vegetarian,” he said hared.