New Delhi, March 20 -- After HDFC Bank chairman Atanu Chakraborty resigned in an abrupt move that the board led by his interim replacement Keki Mistry was reportedly baffled by, stakeholder attention was drawn to what the former may have meant by practices in his observation over the past two years being incongruent with his personal "values and ethics," which is what he cited to explain his sudden departure. Chakraborty didn't elaborate.

"There are no other material reasons for my resignation," he wrote in his resignation letter. According to Mistry, he didn't list any particular issue when asked by the board. But it put HDFC Bank in an awkward spot, with its share losing 5.1% of its value on Thursday.

That the rest of the market took ...