HDFC Bank Managing Director Aditya Puri's name has featured in the list of world's 30 best CEOs, published by American financial magazine Barron's.

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Puri, 66, has transformed HDFC Bank from a start-up into one of the world s highest-quality banks, generating eye-popping returns by maintaining lending standards while expanding beyond corporate loans into a full-service retail bank, Barron's said.

Also read: Aditya Puri ko gussa kyon aata hai?

According to the magazine, a 2014 trip to Silicon Valley made Puri a digital evangelist. In hallmark style, the banker swiftly set out to remake India's second-largest private-sector bank into the digital spot for anything money-related, it said.

That's proving to be a bigger competitive advantage than even he imagined, as India's surprise demonetisation in November, which voided 86 percent of the country's cash, catapulted demand for digital payments, Barron's said.

A few days back, Aditya Puri termed the demonetisation as a “necessity” that will benefit the economy in the long run by way of rate cuts, stopping counterfeiting and broadening the tax base. He said in a note to bank account holders –

“We, at HDFC Bank, feel this is a laudable objective which will provide benefits to the economy and people in the long run.”

Also read: Demonetisation will help the economy in long run: Aditya Puri

He said the demonetisation exercise announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 is a "necessity" to root out counterfeit notes, which have a direct correlation with terror funding. Stating that an effort is being made to ensure that people conduct their business in a fair and transparent manner, the veteran banker said a country cannot progress if less than 10 per cent of the population pays income tax. It will also help root out corruption and bring down the cost of banking services, he said.

He further added -

"This will give banks the capacity to lend and also to bring interest rates down in order to spur investment and be competitive."