A law firm in the US has filed a class action suit against HDFC Bank, claiming damages for the losses incurred by investors because of “materially false and misleading” representations made by India’s largest private sector lender.

The suit by Rosen Legal specifically names the bank’s managing director and chief executive Aditya Puri, his chosen successor Sashidhar Jagdishan and company secretary Santosh Haldnakar, who are the defendants in the suit, according to a copy of the complaint uploaded on the website.

The complaint did not mention the exact amount of the damages sought, though it maintained that thousands of investors might have suffered.
HDFC Bank could not be immediately reached for comment.

According to the suit, bank officials “engaged in a plan, scheme, conspiracy and course of conduct, pursuant to which they knowingly or recklessly engaged in acts, transactions, practices and courses of business which operated as a fraud and deceit”, resulting in the losses to investors.

The allegations pertain to the vehicle finance vertical, where the bank later acknowledged to have found some improprieties which resulted in some executives being acted against.

The bank had inadequate disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, maintained improper lending practices in the vehicle financing making the operations unsustainable and all this was likely to have a negative impact on its financial condition and reputation, it alleged.