Renu Sud Karnad is the Managing Director of Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC) (revenue of $6.5 billion & 66,000+ employees, with 3,062 branches and 10,743 ATMs, in 1,568 cities), one of the largest financial institutions by market capitalization with in India.
Renu Karnad was born on 1952. She has a degree in law from the University of Mumbai and a Master’s Degree in Economics from the Delhi University.
Karnad started her career in the legal and credit department at HDFC in 1978. After having spent two decades in various positions, in 2000, she was appointed as the Executive Director of the Corporation. In 2007, she was re-designated as the Joint Managing Director of the Corporation and in 2010 she became. Managing Director Renu Karnad is responsible for strategy, budget, product development and distribution for the all-India lending operations.
Renu Karnad´s message to young professionals is encapsulated in a famous quote from British journalist David Frost ‘don’t aim for success; if you want it, just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally’.
Renu Karnad served as a Member of management team of India’s largest real estate and mortgage finance sectors for eight years. She has served as the President of the International Union for Housing Finance (IUHF). She has served as Director of Asian Real Estate Society. She has an Albert Parvin Fellowship from Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs at Princeton University.
She served as the Chairman of the Board at Sparsh BPO Services Limited until 2011. Since 2005, she has been a Non-Executive Director at Indraprastha Medical Corporation Limited. Renu Karnad has been a Director of ICI Limited, GRUH Finance Limited and Motor Industries Limited. She is the Member of the Senior Expert Council of IDFC Private Equity. Since 1997, she has been on the board of Feedback Infra.
In 2012, Renu Karnad was awarded ‘Outstanding Woman Business Leader’ at the CNBC-TV18 Indian Business Leader Awards. She was part of the ‘25 Most Influential Women Professionals’ in India by India Today Magazine’s power list 2011. She was honoured by IMC Ladies’ wings for outstanding contribution by a woman in the field of Banking and Financial Services, 2011. She was named among the ‘Most Powerful Women in Indian Business’ by Business Today Magazine’s list for continuous six years. In 2008, she was featured amongst the list of ’25 Top Non-Banking Women in Finance’ by U.S. Banker magazine. In the year 2007, she was awarded ‘Best Woman Corporate Leader’ by Business & Economy magazine. In 2007, she was facilitated at the ‘Women Achievers Award’ by the FICCI Ladies Organization.
