Mumbai, Aug. 31 -- HDFC Bank was not expecting to start its new leader hunt quite yet, but Sashidhar Jagdishan's decision to not seek a new term as chief executive when his tenure ends in October has suddenly put it in transition mode. Deputy managing director Kaizad Bharucha is widely expected to don the mantle of an interim chief till a full-time executive is found. According to a person aware of the discussions, the bank will soon appoint a search firm to look for Jagdishan's replacement. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) typically wants banks to list a mix of external and internal candidate names for approval. The person said the board had requested Jagdishan to reconsider his decision, but he declined. In his letter to the board, the chief executive said it had been six years since he took the top job and the bank had made progress in technology, risk management, among other areas, the person said. Jagdishan also told the board that recent issues were behind them, the person added. "For HDFC, this does not end the uncertainty but is perhaps the beginning, at least till a full-time CEO is not appointed," said Abizer Diwanji, founder of strategic advisory provider Neostrat Advisors. According to some people aware of the development, Jagdishan had got indications that the board was not keen on his reappointment or that he could get a truncated term, and his current term was set to end in just two months' time. According to a second person aware of internal discussions, Jagdishan decided not to offer himself for reappointment because he did not want the ignominy of a shorter term, or worse, a rejection by RBI. "Nobody clearly knows what RBI thinks on such issues and the central bank's stance is not easy to gauge," the person said. The bank, however, rejected these reasons for hijs sudden announcement. "The reasons cited by you for Mr Jagdishan not seeking a new term are totally false and inaccurate," a spokesperson for HDFC Bank said in response to emailed queries. Widely expected to be the interim CEO, the 60-year-old Bharucha has spent 31 years at the bank and took on the role of deputy managing director in April 2023. A commerce graduate from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics, University of Mumbai, Bharucha has been at the bank since its inception. Experts said Bharucha comes with a tenure constraint for the bank to consider him for the top job. RBI rules cap the total time an executive can serve as a whole-time director, including as managing director and chief executive, at 15 years. Since Bharucha joined HDFC Bank's board in 2014, that would leave him only until 2029, giving him a relatively short runway as a full-time chief executive. "Internally, deputy managing director Kaizad Bharucha can be recommended for managing director position-though (he) could get a shorter term due to RBI's rule of whole-time director max term of 15 years," said Anand Dama, executive director, head of banking and financial services research at Nuvama Institutional Equities. This, said Dama, is an easy, faster and a pragmatic solution, which will provide the bank time to groom someone internally or externally, and lead to minimal business disruption....