Regulatory filings show that Vaidyanathan gifted 50,000 shares of IDFC First Bank to Sameer Mhatre for buying a house, 75,000 shares to Mayank Mrinal Ghosh as “financial security to kin due to bereavement of colleague” and another 2.5 lakh shares to Wg. Cdr. (Rtd.) Sampath Kumar in the form of medical assistance to a senior citizen.
Kumar had loaned him Rs 1,000 a long time back but before Vaidya could pay it back, the two lost touch. His search for the soldier ended when his family reached out to him after reading a media article. The loan of just Rs 1,000 was paid in the form of 2.5 lakh shares, worth about Rs 2 crore, for Kumar’s medical treatment.
The two others who were given shares are – A Kanojia (2.75 lakh shares to buy a house) and Manoj Sahay who has been identified as a friend of the banker.
The gift transactions were recorded earlier in the week on March 21. “It is submitted that there are no direct or indirect benefits derived by Mr V. Vaidyanathan from these transactions,” the bank said in a filing.
Based on March 21st closing price of Rs 77.90, the total value of the gift is around Rs 5.45 crore.Also read | HCL Tech, TCS, Infosys, other IT stocks drop up to 5%. Blame it on Accenture
While philanthropic acts are not uncommon in India Inc, Vaidyanathan has a peculiar style of gifting company shares. He owns about 1% stake in the bank and has gifted about Rs 80 crore worth of shares so far to friends and those in need.
Earlier in February 2022, the banker had gifted 9 lakh shares held by him, worth over Rs 3.95 crore, to five individuals, including his trainer, househelp and driver, to help them purchase homes.
In 2020, he had reportedly gifted shares to his former mathematics teacher who had lent him Rs 500 when he got into a premier school but did not have the cash to travel.
Since January 2018, the banker is said to have gifted about 40% of his stake held in the bank.
