Events

Challa Sreenivasulu Setty joined the Board of SBI as Managing Director in January 2020 and currently heading International Banking, Global Markets & Technology wings of the Bank. Prior to the present assignment, Shri Setty headed Retail & Digital Banking vertical. He has also been heading various task forces/committees formed by the Government of India.

A Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and also, a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers, he started his career with State Bank of India in 1988 as a Probationary Officer. Across a career spanning over three decades, he has rich experience in Corporate credit, Retail, Digital and International banking and banking in developed markets.

Shri Setty has held key assignments in State Bank of India including Deputy Managing Director - Stressed Assets Resolution Group, Chief General Manager and General Manager in Corporate Accounts Group, Deputy General Manager in Mid-Corporate group and VP & Head (Syndications) in SBI, New York Branch.

Mr. Atul Kumar Goel assumed the role of Chief Executive of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) on March 11, 2025. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Punjab National Bank, a government-owned bank, from February 1, 2022, to December 31, 2024. Before his tenure at Punjab National Bank, he was the MD & CEO of UCO Bank from November 2, 2018, to December 31, 2021, where he played a key role in turning the bank into a profitable institution. Earlier, he served as Executive Director at Union Bank of India from September 15, 2016, to November 1, 2018.

Mr. Goel is a seasoned banker with over three decades of professional banking experience across four major government-owned banks in India. A qualified Chartered Accountant, he possesses extensive expertise in diverse areas of banking including large corporate credit, treasury management, risk management, financial planning, investor relations, compliance, business process transformation, and support services.

He has had a longstanding and active association with the Indian Banks’ Association. He served as Chairman of IBA from October 14, 2021, to March 21, 2024. Before that, he also chaired the Standing Committee on Accounting Standards and Taxation, as well as the Standing Committee on Retail Banking.

In addition to his leadership roles in banking, Mr. Goel has served as a Director on the boards of several prominent institutions including The New India Assurance Co. Ltd., PNB International Ltd. (UK), PNB MetLife India Insurance Co. Ltd., PNB Housing Finance Ltd., The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd., and Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (SUD Life). He has also been a member of the General Body of Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, and a member of the Governing Board of the National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM), Pune.

Currently, he serves on the Governing Council of the Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (IIBF), Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) and also member of Pension Advisory Committee of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA)

Jyoti is a business economist by training and a seasoned industry leader with nearly three decades of work experience with apex Indian industry associations. Through the years, she worked across multiple sectors and with a large set of stakeholders on policy and business issues. She is currently responsible for overseeing the operations of FICCI including its outreach to members of Indian industry across sectors and regions.

Jyoti regularly interfaces with senior government officials, multilateral organisations and industry leaders on large number of economic issues and projects. She has contributed to several policy initiatives of the government aimed towards enhancing the ease of doing business in the country and improving the competititvess of Indian industry. She has been part of government committees on various subjects and has handled numerous projects with multilateral organisations.

She also contributes to the investment promotion activities of the government.

Prior to her appointment as the Director General, Jyoti had led teams looking after multiple areas including economic affairs, financial services, corporate laws, corporate governance, taxation, manufacturing, agriculture, small and medium enterprises amongst others. Besides policy areas, Jyoti has also worked in institutionalizing important centres of excellence at FICCI such as the FICCI-Aditya Birla Centre for CSR and the FICCI Centre for Sustainability Leadership.

Jyoti is an alumnus of the Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi and Department of Business Economics, University of Delhi.

Shri Rajkiran Rai G. is Managing Director of the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) since August 8, 2022. Prior to this, Shri Rai was Managing Director & CEO of Union Bank of India from July 1, 2017 till May 31, 2022. Born on 19th May 1962, Shri Rai has more than three decades of rich banking experience which includes heading Industrial Finance Branch, Regions and Zonal Offices. Starting his career in 1986 as an Agricultural Finance Officer in Central Bank of India, Shri Rai rose through ranks heading various branches at different parts of the country for more than 17 years. On his elevation as General Manager, he was given the responsibility of heading the department of Human Resource Development. He was the Field General Manager of Mumbai Zone of Central Bank of India, when he was elevated to the post of Executive Director of Oriental Bank of Commerce.

He has served as the Chairman of Union Bank of India (U.K.) Limited, Union Asset Management Company, Star Union Dai-Ichi Life Insurance Company Limited, CorpBank Securities Limited. He has served as Director on the Boards of EXIM Bank, United India Insurance Company Limited, Oriental Insurance Company Limited, Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Shri Rai also served as Head of the Committee to advise the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) on evolving suitable training & development programs for management personnel in Public Sector Banks.

Shri Rai was the Chairman of Indian Banks’ Association (IBA). Of his multiple responsibilities at the IBA, he also served as Chairman, Managing Committee and Chairman, Standing Committee on HR & IR, and Chairman, Wage Negotiation Committee.

Apart from the above, Shri Rai has held the following positions:

• Chairman, Governing Board of Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS).
• Chairman, Committee to study and recommend a uniform system for the banks for classification of various disciplinary cases as Vigilance and Non-vigilance.
• President, Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (IIBF).
• President, Bankers’ Institute of Rural & Entrepreneurship Development (BIRED).
• President of the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) in Andhra Pradesh.
• Member, Advisory Board for Financial Inclusion Fund of NABARD.
• Member, Governing Council of Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD).
• Member, Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF) of Reserve Bank of India.
• Member, Governing Board of National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM).
• Member, Search Committee for appointment of new Director of NIBM.
• Member, Board of Directors of National Credit Guarantee Trust Co Ltd (NCGTC)

Shri Rai is an agricultural science graduate and also a certified member of Indian Institute of Bankers. A vivid learner, he has benefitted of several executive development programmes at prestigious institutions of the country. A winner of several prestigious industry awards and accolades, Shri Rai was awarded ‘CEO with HR Orientation’ by World HRD Congress for his distinguished approach to capability building through training and leadership development. He has also been conferred Honorary Fellowship by Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (IIBF) in recognition of his invaluable contribution in the field of banking and finance.
 

Mr. Rakesh Sharma is a seasoned banker with a total stint of over 40 years in various Banks. He started his banking career in State Bank of India (SBI) and held various responsibilities in SBI. He then moved to Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd. as MD & CEO and served there for a period of 18 months. He retired from Canara Bank as MD & CEO after serving for a period of 3 years, in July 2018. He has expertise in Accountancy, Agriculture & Rural Economy, Banking, Economics, Small Scale Industry, HR, Business Management, Administration and Corporate Governance.

Dr. Debadatta Chand assumed charge as Managing Director & CEO of the Bank on 1st July 2023. Dr. Chand has over 31 years of experience in the Banking & Financial services industry, having served in banks and financial institutions. Dr. Chand served as the Executive Director at Bank of Baroda from March’21 to June’23, before his elevation as MD & CEO. In the capacity as Executive Director, he was managing Corporate & Institutional Credit, Corporate & Institutional Banking, Treasury & Global Markets, Mid-Corporate Business and Trade & Foreign Exchange, and oversaw the International Banking Business, Domestic Subsidiaries/ Joint Ventures, Wealth Management, Capital Markets, NRI Business as well as key platform functions such as HRM, Finance & Planning, Risk Management, Audit & Inspection, Credit Monitoring, Collections, Legal, Compliance, Learning & Development, Disciplinary Proceedings, Information Security and Estate Management & Security at the Bank.

As MD & CEO of Bank of Baroda, Dr. Chand is responsible for managing the Bank and its group companies. Prior to Bank of Baroda, he was Chief General Manager in Punjab National Bank and has worked as Zonal Head, Regional Head, Head of Treasury operations and also in different capacities in Audit and Risk Management. He has also served in Small Industries Development Bank of India and also erstwhile Allahabad Bank.

Dr. Chand is currently Chairman on the Board of BOB Capital Markets Ltd., India First Life Insurance Co. Ltd. and BOBCARD Ltd. He served on the Board of India Infradebt Limited and National Insurance Company Ltd. Dr. Chand was also the Chairman on the Boards of Bank of Baroda (Tanzania) Ltd., Bank of Baroda (Kenya) Ltd. and member on the Board of Bank of Baroda (Uganda) Ltd.

He is President of the General Body of Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurugram. He is a member on the Governing Board of National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM) & also a member of the Standing Committee on the Governing Board of NIBM, Governing Council of the Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (IIBF), Advisory Board for Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) of NABARD and a member of the Governing Board of Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS). He is also Chairman of the Executive Committee of IIBF and Chairman of Finance Committee of IBPS as well as IBPS Staff Provident Fund Trust.

Dr. Chand was Co-Chair of Joint Working Group on ‘Infrastructure and Finance’ under the aegis of India-Australia CEOs Forum. He is the Chairman of the IBA Standing Committee on Risk Management and Basel Implementation. Dr. Chand had also been part of India-UK Financial Partnership (IUKFP) Working Group on Capital Markets Connectivity. He is also a member on the CII National Committee on Banking.

Dr. Chand holds a B. Tech. degree, an MBA and CAIIB qualification. Additionally, he has a Post Graduate Diploma in Equity Research and is a Certified Portfolio Manager. Dr. Chand also holds a Ph.D. in Management.

Shri Asheesh Pandey is a seasoned Banker with experience of more than 27 years. He started his career from erstwhile Corporation Bank. Prior to assuming the current position, he worked as an Executive Director of the Bank of Maharashtra and Chief General Manager of the Union Bank of India.

Shri Pandey has an experience of handling diverse portfolio ranging from Credit, Credit Monitoring, Treasury & Merchant Banking, Foreign Transactions & Joint Ventures, Marketing & Customer Relationships and Banking Operations. Being a Tech-Savvy banker, he has played a key role in successful digital banking transformation by adopting ideations and innovations. He has also played an important role in the re-engineering, harmonization, automation and digitization during amalgamation of e-Andhra Bank and e-Corporation Bank with Union Bank of India.

Shri Pandey is a Mechanical Engineer and also holds Post Graduation in Management with specialisation in Finance & Marketing. He is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management – Bangalore. He is also a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers. Shri Pandey has also completed Executive Program in Strategic Digital Marketing & Analytics - 2023 by IIM, Rohtak and Directors Development Program-2023 by Egon Zehnder in collaboration with Harvard Business Publishing. He has also completed Leadership Development Program for Senior Management of PSBs conducted by IIM Bangalore as well as program on IT & Cyber Security for Senior Management conducted by IDRBT, Hyderabad.

Shri Ashok Chandra joined Punjab National Bank as its MD & CEO on 16th January 2025 from Canara Bank where he was working as Executive Director. In a career spanning over three decades, Shri Chandra has managed almost all facets of banking such as Digital Banking, Information Technology, Strategy & Planning, Marketing & Public Relations, Financial Inclusion, MSME, Retail Assets, Agriculture & Priority Sector, Gold Loan, Liability Management, Recovery, Legal and Stressed Asset Management besides being the Head of Representative Office, Dubai. Shri Ashok Chandra started his career with erstwhile Corporation Bank and went on to become Chief General Manager of Union Bank of India post-merger of Corporation Bank with Union Bank of India.

Shri Ashok Chandra is the Chairperson of the IBA Standing Committee on Payment Systems and Banking Technology, member of the IBA standing committee for HR & IR and on the Board of Oriental Insurance Company Ltd., PNB International Ltd., and member of the Governing Bodies of National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM), MDI Society Gurgaon and the Governing Council of Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (IIBF).

Shri Ashok Chandra is Master’s in Economics, a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers and was selected to be a part of the Leadership Development Programme curated by the erstwhile Banks Board Bureau and conducted by IIM, Bangalore.

Shri Rajneesh Karnatak assumed charge as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Bank of India on April 29, 2023. He is a Post-Graduate in Commerce (M.Com) and is a Certified Associate from Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB). He was Chief General Manager of Punjab National Bank until his appointment as Executive Director in Union Bank of India on    October 21, 2021.

Shri Karnatak has a rich banking experience of over 32 years and carries varied branch and administrative office experiences. He is experienced in credit appraisal, including project and working capital funding, with strong expertise in Risk Management and a specific focus on Credit Risk. He has headed verticals such as Credit Monitoring, Digital Banking and Mid Corporate Credit. He has also headed Credit Review & Monitoring Division and Corporate Credit Division in Punjab National Bank.

Shri Karnatak has attended various training and Leadership Development Programs from IIM-Kozhikode & JNIDB Hyderabad and has also participated in Advance Management Programme at IMI (International Management Institute) Delhi & IIBF (Indian Institute of Banking & Finance). He was part of the 1^st batch of Senior Officers selected by Banks Board Bureau (now FSIB) for Leadership Development Program of IIM Bangalore & Egon Zehnder.

Shri Karnatak has served as Non-Executive Chairman of UBI Services Ltd., on behalf of Union Bank of India. He has also served as Non-Independent Non-Executive Director on the Board of UBI (UK) Limited. He was a member of the Governing Board of Indian Institute of Bank Management (IIBM) Guwahati. He has served as Nominee Director on behalf of Punjab National Bank on the Board of PNB Housing Finance Ltd., and India SME Asset Reconstruction Company Limited. He also served as Board Trustee on IAMCL (IIFCL Asset Management Co. Ltd).

He is presently serving following Organisations / Institutions as under:

• IBA – Part of different Committees in various capacities
• EXIM Bank – Director on the Board
• IBPS  – Chairman of Governing Board
• NIBM – Member of Governing Board, Campus Committee & Finance Committee
• IIBF – Part of different Committees in various capacities
• CII – Member of National Committee on Banking

Shri Brajesh Kumar Singh assumed charge as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) of Canara Bank on 01st June 2026. He has a vast and varied experience in the Banking industry, spanning more than 30 years.

Shri Brajesh Kumar Singh was Executive Director of Indian Bank since 10th March 2024 till his appointment as MD & CEO of Canara Bank. In his capacity as Executive Director in Indian Bank, he has overseen various Verticals in Indian Bank including Retail, MSME, Recovery, Credit Monitoring, Human Resource Management, Human Development, Resources and Government Relations, Wealth Management etc..

Shri Brajesh Kumar Singh is an Agriculture graduate from Allahabad Agriculture Institute and MBA Finance. He is also a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers.

Prior to joining as Executive Director of Indian Bank, he was serving as Chief General Manager HR of Bank of Baroda. He has also completed Executive Leadership Development Programme at IIM Bangalore.

Shri Brajesh Kumar Singh has worked in various strategic positions viz. Credit Officer, Branch Head, Loan Factory Head, Regional Head, Zonal Head. He was also Convenor of State level Bankers Committee. His business exposure includes Overseas tenure at Durban, South Africa. At Corporate Office, he has steered Retail Assets and Human Resource Management departments with his rich expertise.

He has also served as Director in the Board of Bank of Baroda UP Gramin Bank.

Shri Kalyan Kumar is the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) of Bank w.e.f. 30th September, 2025. Prior to this, he served as an Executive Director at Punjab National Bank.

Shri Kalyan Kumar is a Post Graduate in Science from Rajendra Prasad Agriculture University, Pusa. He is also a Certified Associate Member of Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB) and holds various certifications in Trade Finance, SME Finance, IT Security and KYC-AML from Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (IIBF).

Shri Kumar started his journey in Union Bank of India as Rural Development Officer in 1995 and has served the Bank for more than 26 years in various capacities. He worked as the Branch Head in various categories of branches which also include VLBs (Very Large Branches). He was also the Principal of the Staff Training College. In the Corporate Office, he aided in the Bank’s Business Process Transformation, Credit Review & Monitoring and Vigilance. The successful amalgamation of Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank into Union Bank of India was steered under his supervision and guidance.

Shri Kumar served as an Executive Director of Punjab National Bank and as Chairman on the Board of its two subsidiaries i.e. PNB Gilts Ltd. and PNB Cards & Services Ltd. He was the nominee member of Board of Governors of Management Development Institute (MDI) Society. Shri Kumar was on the Board of IIFCL as SCB nominee Director and on the Board of NIBSCOM as Chairman.

He is Governing Board Member on IIBM (Indian Institute of Bank Management) and Member of Manging Committee at IBA (Indian Bank’s Association). Recently, He is appointed as member of CII National Committee on Banking and External Member on College Advisory Committee of College of Agriculture Banking (CAB)-RBI.

Shri Kumar has undergone the FSIB Training Program for Top Leadership Development and Director Development Programme, conducted by Egon Zehnder in collaboration with Harvard University.

Shri Binod Kumar assumed charge as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Indian Bank on January 16, 2025. Prior to this appointment, he served as Executive Director of Punjab National Bank (PNB) from November 21, 2022 to January 15, 2025, overseeing Corporate Banking, Treasury, International Banking, Finance, and Data Analytics & Data Warehousing divisions.

A science graduate from Ranchi University, Shri Kumar holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Banking & Finance from the National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM). He is a certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) from GARP, USA, and a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB). He has also completed Diploma programmes in Treasury, Investment & Risk Management and Banking & Finance from the Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (IIBF) and Leadership Skills Development Programme at IIM Bangalore.

Shri Kumar began his banking career as a Management Trainee with PNB in 1994 and brings over three decades of rich, cross-functional experience to his current role. His areas of expertise encompass Branch and Administrative Office Operations, Risk Management, and Corporate Credit.

He has previously served as Chief Executive Officer of PNB's Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) branch and as headed the Corporate Credit Division of PNB as Chief General Manager.

Shri Kumar is also a member of the IBA Managing Committee and chairs the IBA Standing Committee on Corporate Credit.

He also serves on the Governing Council of IIBF and the Governing Board of the Indian Institute of Bank Management (IIBM), Guwahati.

Shri Nidhu Saxena started his banking career at Bank of Baroda and later moved to UCO Bank. Shri Nidhu Saxena has over 26 years of experience working in diversified areas of banking.
 
Prior to joining Bank of Maharashtra, he was the Executive Director of Union Bank of India. 

During his tenure, he worked in all key banking functions and has been in several positions such as Branch Head, Zonal Head and Vertical Head. 

At Union Bank, he was looking after Treasury, Domestic Foreign Business, International Banking, Human Resources, Stressed Assets, Retail Assets, MSME, Retail Liabilities, CISO, Wealth Management and Audit Verticals. 

He has been on the Board of Union Bank of India (UK) Limited and Union Asset Management Company Limited and has also been a member of the Academic Council of National Institute of Bank Management, Pune and Governing Body of Indian Institute of Bank Management, Guwahati. 

He has also been identified as a 'Subject Expert' for assisting Union Public Service Commission. He also has experience of 8 years in corporate sector before starting his banking career. 

Amitabh Chaudhry has had a long and distinguished career spanning 38 years across various sectors in India and abroad.

Amitabh is the MD&CEO of Axis Bank since 1st January 2019. He leads Axis Group, a financial conglomerate, with a world class leadership team and a clearly defined vision of fulfilling the aspirations of a new, resurgent India. Over the last six years, Axis Bank has turned in industry leading performance on growth, profitability, and sustainability, with a deep focus on digital, customer experience, Bharat banking, risk and governance.

Before joining Axis Bank, Amitabh was the MD & CEO of HDFC Life. During his nine years stint which started in 2010, he built one of the most valued life insurance franchises in the country.

Amitabh started his career with Bank of America in 1987, where he donned diverse roles like head of technology investment banking for Asia, regional finance head for wholesale bank, CFO(India) and various senior roles in the wholesale banking side of the businesses. After 16 years of banking, he switched careers and became part of the founding leadership team at Infosys BPM in 2003, building a successful process outsourcing business across seven countries. Apart from the BPO business he also ran the validation unit for Infosys for sometime.

Amitabh is the Chairperson of the FICCI National Committee on Banking, since 2019. He has also served as Director on the board of several reputed organizations and has received numerous awards and recognitions. He chairs the Boards of Axis Capital Limited, Axis Finance Limited and Axis Asset Management Company Limited.

Amitabh is an Engineer from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, and holds a postgraduate degree in Business Management from IIM, Ahmedabad.

V. Vaidyanathan aspires to create "a world-class Indian Bank, guided by ethics, powered by technology, and to be a force for social good." He became the Managing Director and CEO of IDFC FIRST Bank in December 2018 following the merger of Capital First and IDFC Bank.

Previously, he worked with Citibank (1990–2000) and ICICI Bank (2000–2010), where he built a large retail banking division, expanding branches to 1,411, grew CASA and retail deposits to ₹1 trillion, and grew retail lending, including mortgages, auto loans, MSME and rural banking, to ₹1.35 trillion (US$15 billion). He was appointed to the Board of Directors of ICICI Bank in 2006 at the age of 38. He later served as MD & CEO of ICICI Prudential Life.

Chasing an entrepreneurial opportunity, he left ICICI in 2010 to acquire a stake in a small real estate financing NBFC with a market capitalization of ₹780 crore (US$89 million), with the vision of converting it into a commercial bank.

He pledged his stock and home to raise funds, renamed the NBFC as Capital First, and transformed it by exiting real estate financing and focusing on retail and MSME lending using technology-driven algorithms. He demonstrated the proof of concept to private equity firms, raised ₹810 crore (US$93 million) in equity by 2012, recapitalized the company, and became its Chairman and CEO.

Capital First grew its retail loan book from ₹94 crore (US$11 million) in 2010 to ₹29,600 crore (US$3.4 billion) by 2018, serving 7 million customers with high asset quality. The company turned around from losses of ₹330 crore to profits of ₹358 crore during this period. Its share price increased from ₹122 in 2010 to ₹845 in 2018, while the market capitalization increased tenfold to ₹8,200 crore (US$939 million).

In 2017, Vaidyanathan sold 1.5% of his personal stake in Capital First to repay the loan used to acquire his ownership. To secure a commercial banking licence for Capital First, he merged it with IDFC Bank in 2018 and became the Managing Director & CEO of IDFC FIRST Bank.

Post-merger, the loan book expanded to ₹2,90,278 crore (US$31.8 billion) with significant growth in RAM (Retail, Agriculture and MSME) finance. Customer deposits increased from ₹38,455 crore (US$4.3 billion) to ₹2,84,453 crore (US$31.1 billion) between 2018 and 2025, while the CASA ratio rose from 8.7% to 49.8%, and NIM (FY26) stood at 5.75%. The bank turned profitable with FY26 PAT of ₹1,636 crore (US$179 million).

Awards & Recognition

• Banker of the Year 2023 – Financial Express
• Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 (Financial Services) – Ernst & Young
• Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 – CNBC Awaaz
• Most Inspirational Leveraged Management Buyout, India 2018 – CFI Awards, London
• Most Innovative Company of the Year 2017 – CNBC Asia
• Entrepreneur of the Year 2016 & 2017 – Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards
• Most Promising Business Leaders of Asia 2016 – The Economic Times
• India's Most Valuable Companies 2016 & 2015 – Business Today
• India's Future Ready Companies 2016 – The Economic Times 500
• Fortune India's Next 500 Companies 2016

PD Singh is the Chief Executive Officer - India & South for Standard Chartered Bank.

PD brings with him a wealth of experience from close to three decades in banking and finance, spanning leadership and coverage roles across European and American banks. In his career, he has demonstrated ability to build business at scale, with strong regulatory and client connects, complementing his business acumen.

Prior to joining Standard Chartered Bank, PD was the CEO of JP Morgan Chase Bank in India, where he played a pivotal role in shaping the bank's corporate banking franchise as a founding member and later managing the bank entity in India. Before JP Morgan, he was at HSBC, where he spent a decade covering leadership roles across corporate and commercial banking.

PD is an active proponent of sustainability and making a positive impact in the society through community impact initiatives, playing an active role in various committees and industry bodies. Heis the Co-Chairman of Banking & Finance Committee of the IMC Chambers of Commerce for the past 4 years. He is the member of the CSR committee of The Cricket Club of India, Mumbai (CCI). He is a Managing Committee member of the Indian Banks Association (IBA) and Chairman of its Foreign Banks Committee. He is also on the advisory boards of a few premier educational institutions including NIBM.

PD completed his studies from University of Pune. He has an engineering degree, followed by MBAs in Finance and Marketing respectively.

Kaushik Shaparia is the Chief Executive Officer India and Emerging Asia, Deutsche Bank AG. Kaushik leads the Emerging Asia region which encompasses Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, in addition to his existing role as CEO of the Deutsche Bank Group in India.
He has over 40 years of extensive banking experience across most areas in banking products and client coverage, including several regional and global roles.

Kaushik is a Member of Deutsche Bank’s Asia Pacific Executive Committee and is also a Director & Non-Executive Chairman on the Board of Deutsche India Private Limited.

Prior to returning to India in his current role, Kaushik was based in Singapore with a dual portfolio as the APAC Head of Corporate Banking Coverage, as well as the Global Head of Subsidiary Coverage. In these roles, Kaushik was responsible for facilitating greater alignment across the bank’s corporate coverage network globally and for driving the overall corporate client agenda in Asia.

Kaushik holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Ms. Harsha Bangari is the Managing Director of the Bank. Prior to this, she was the Deputy Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of the Bank.

Having joined the India Exim Bank in 1995, Ms. Bangari is a seasoned finance professional with experience of more than 27 years in the financial sector and has thorough knowledge of the Bank’s processes and business policies across functions, covering all products of the Bank including cross border project financing as well as Risk Management, Client Servicing and Liability side management, including Treasury Functions and Foreign Currency Resources. Her areas of interest include international debt capital markets and international project finance, where she has an operational experience of more than 14 years.

Ms. Bangari is a Bachelor of Commerce and a Chartered Accountant.
 

Shri Manoj Mittal is the Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) at Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). Prior to this, he served as MD&CEO of IFCI Ltd. for 3 years. During his tenure, IFCI successfully turned the corner in FY2024 with a new business strategy, reporting profit after a series of annual losses. Earlier in his career, he spent 5 years as a Deputy Managing Director at SIDBI and was actively involved in the development and implementation of SIDBI Vision 2.0.

Shri Manoj Mittal has a track record of over 3 decades in propelling organizational growth and driving both impact and profitability through strategic leadership.

As a career Development Banker at SIDBI, Shri Mittal had played a lead role in promoting MFI movement including restructuring of dues of banks to MFIs during the A.P. MFI Crisis in 2010 and implementation of responsible lending initiatives. He also has comprehensive experience in design, management and impact evaluation of various sustainability and developmental programs funded by multilateral agencies/ Government of India. He is a strong votary of Credit Plus approach for holistic development of MSMEs. He has wide experience of providing support to MSMEs/ Startups, financial intermediaries - Banks/ Non-Banking Finance Companies/ Micro Finance Institutions, Alternate Investment Funds etc.

An engineer by training, Shri Mittal has, to his credit, a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management and a Postgraduate Degree in Economics. He is also a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Banking and Finance.

Mr. Partha Pratim Sengupta is an experienced banker, who has nearly four decades of experience in the banking industry. He has worked in different geographies, across both retail and corporate banking. He has been groomed at State Bank of India (SBI), where he rose to the role of Deputy Managing Director and Chief Credit Officer of the Bank. He then took over as Managing Director & CEO of Indian Overseas Bank (IOB). Mr. Sengupta is a resilient and outcome oriented leader who has demonstrated consistent achievement of goals. In both his stints, at SBI and at IOB, he has leveraged technology and innovation for achieving business results. Mr. Sengupta has spent his career in a range of retail and corporate branches and business. His postings included Branch Manager roles at retail and commercial branches, Forex, Trade Finance and Credit Officer roles, Regional Manager, Deputy General Manager in Corporate Centre Internet Banking Department, General Manager Mid Corporate, etc.

Between 2016 to 2018, Mr. Sengupta served as Chief General Manager, SBI Kolkata Circle, which included the states of West Bengal and Sikkim and also the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In 2018, Mr. Sengupta was elevated to the rank of Deputy Managing Director and Chief Credit Officer of State Bank of India. He was the Chairman of the Corporate Centre Credit Committee, the highest sanctioning committee of the Bank just below the Board. He was a member of the Investment Committee, Fraud Management Committee, NPA Management Committee and Operational Risk and Marketing Risk Management Committees of the Bank. At SBI, he was a permanent invitee in the Board of SBI as DMD & Chief Credit Officer of the Bank. He has also been a non-executive director on the board of SBI’s investments (YES Bank, ARCIL, among others) and IOB’s joint venture (Universal Sompo Life Insurance).

In 2020, Mr. Sengupta was selected as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Indian Overseas Bank and led the bank until December, 2022.

Mr. Sengupta has graduated in Physics Honours and is also a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers. He has received training in Leadership Development from Harvard Business School, IIM Calcutta, and ISB Hyderabad
 

Mr. P R Seshadri is a highly accomplished leader in the banking sector, with a distinguished career marked by diverse roles and remarkable achievements. His academic credentials form a brilliant foundation for his career, with a B.E. with distinction from Delhi College of Engineering and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Career Highlights

In his prior role as Managing Director & CEO of The Karur Vysya Bank Limited, Mr. Seshadri played a crucial role in transforming the bank into a modern institution with industry-leading digital prowess. He prioritized building capabilities, empowering specialists, and ensuring balance sheet health through strategic capital enhancements.
During his tenure as CEO of BFC Bank Limited in London, Mr. Seshadri contributed to establishing a challenger bank focused on simplifying cross-border payments, addressing global access challenges, and reducing costs.
At Citibank N.A., he held key positions, including Managing Director and Head of Sales & Distribution in Asia Pacific. Mr. Seshadri successfully transformed Citi's distribution architecture, adopting a retail-like approach, leading to increased productivity and customer focus.

As Managing Director & CEO of Citifinancial Consumer Finance India Ltd, he played a pivotal role in growing the entity into India's largest and most profitable Non-bank Finance Company.

Leadership Approach

Mr. Seshadri's leadership approach is people-centric, evident in initiatives to boost branch morale, enhance sales rewards, and provide comprehensive training in customer relationship management. His risk management strategy emphasizes strategic diversification of the loan book, high-quality asset growth, and an enhanced control environment.

Vision for South Indian Bank

Mr. Seshadri guides the organization towards resilience and sustained profitability, focusing on portfolio strength, branch productivity, cost optimization, and digital channel expansion. His vision entails a holistic growth strategy, leveraging technology, and enhancing institutional capabilities for success in the evolving banking sector.
 

Madhav Nair is the CEO of Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK), India since August 2023. Madhav has around 3 decades of commercial banking experience across India and Middle East. Prior to joining BBK, he worked with several international banks in senior management positions and his last assignment was CEO of Mashreq Bank in India were he successfully revived and led the bank for more than a decade.

Madhav has done his Masters in Management (General Management & Strategy) from Asian Institute of Management, Philippines and Bachelors in Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology.

He has completed several internationally recognized Diploma and Certification programs. This includes International Cash Management Certification by Association of Corporate Treasurers-UK, FCIB Certificate in International Credit & Risk Management from Michigan State University, Diploma in Business Leadership, Strategy & Leadership from Dukes University, Advanced Diploma in International Factoring Services from Factors Chain International, Senior Management Program (3TP) from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

Madhav has been an elected member to the Management Committee of the prestigious Bankers Body, Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) since 2016 and is currently the Honorary Secretary of IBA (2023-24). Prior to that, he was the Dy Chairman of IBA for the year 2022-23. (He has been Hon Secretary thrice and Dy Chairman twice of the Managing Committee since 2016)

He has been nominated as the Chairman of the Standing Committee on ESG, Alternate Chairman for the Sectoral Committee for Foreign Banks, Alternate Chairman for the Standing Committee on Legal & Banking Operations.

Madhav is highly regarded in banking circles for his expertise in policy advocacy specially in the areas of ESG, Internationalization of Rupee and Digital Banking. He has been closely working with the Government, Regulators and Industry to resolve issues faced by the sector. In 2021, Madhav was invited by RBI constituted Regulatory Review Authority 2.0 Advisory Group to present issues as well as suggestions/ recommendations on behalf of foreign banks. Madhav was the keynote speaker at the program on “Responsible Banking” organized by Indian Institute of Bank & Finance (IIBF) and UNEP-FI for Senior Bankers. As part of India’s G20 Presidency, Madhav was invited by Policy Circle in March 2023 to speak at their event Digital India – Empowerment and Transformation covering the Digital initiatives of Indian Banks in the changing Technological Landscape.

Madhav is the Co-Chairman of the National Committee on Banking & Finance of The Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) for the year 2024-25 and member of the National Committee on Banking & Finance, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and Indian Merchants Chambers (IMC).

Tushar Vikram is the Country Head and CEO of India of Mashreq Bank. Mashreq Bank is the leading Private Sector Bank in UAE with over six decades of track record of growth and innovation.

Tushar Vikram is a seasoned business banker with a career spanning three decades. Prior to joining Mashreq, Tushar served as the Group Head of Investment Banking for HDFC Bank, where he led the Project Finance, Equity, Debt Capital Markets and M&A.

Prior to that, Tushar spent 27 years with Citibank in varied senior roles in Commercial Bank, Corporate Banking, Financial Institution, Investment and Structured Finance, Digitization, Credit Processes, and Risk Management.

Tushar is a Chartered Accountant by education.

Shri Salee S Nair, a distinguished banker with over three decades of extensive experience in the financial services sector, assumed charge as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd. on 29th August 2024.

He holds a Post Graduate degree in Applied Electronics and is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB). His academic and professional credentials are complemented by his deep understanding of the Indian banking landscape, acquired through a rich and varied career at the State Bank of India (SBI).

Joining SBI in 1987 as a Probationary Officer, Shri. Nair steadily rose through the ranks to hold several key leadership roles. Prior to his appointment at Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd., he served as Deputy Managing Director, Chief Credit Officer, and Chief Sustainability Officer at SBI. In these roles, he played a pivotal role in steering the bank’s credit and sustainability agendas, while also contributing significantly to strategic decision-making at the highest levels.

Shri Nair specializes in the domain of Credit, particularly Commercial Credit. His in-depth knowledge and operational expertise span across multiple critical verticals including stressed credit portfolio management, agriculture finance, SME and NBFC business, financial inclusion, and retail banking growth. As the Chief Credit Officer of SBI, he was instrumental in driving credit quality and portfolio performance across diverse sectors.

Appointed as the 1^st CEO of Unity Bank, founded by Bharat Pe & Centrum Group. A Senior Banker with 24 years across Standard Chartered, ANZ, Citibank & NBFC startup Centrum. Robust technical strengths shaped with a B.Tech from I.I.T. Delhi, followed by a M.B.A. from New York, have helped build a career in Lending to Multi Nationals across America, Australia and Asia, and SME’s in India.

Inderjit is a resource person for Digital Banking, eCommerce and Blockchain. An ardent corporate speaker, connects passionately with Student Bodies across Management Institutes, Industry Conclaves and a familiar face at Symposiums and Seminars with a clarity of view on futuristic innovation.

Passionate traveler, on and off the beaten path, with fondness of adventure sport and being close to nature. Regularly jams with a rock group, sings & plays the lead guitar for Rock’n’Roll.

Ashwini Kumar Tewari is a career banker and started his career in SBI in the year 1991 as a Probationary Officer. Presently, he is the Managing Director of State Bank of India and a Whole Time Director handling the portfolio of Risk, Compliance and Stressed Assets since June 2022.  Earlier to the present assignment he was handling International Banking, Information Technology and Associates & Subsidiaries of the Bank including  major non-bank business like credit cards, Asset Management, Life & General Insurance, Capital Markets, Custodial Services etc and served on the boards of all these companies.  He was also involved in a big refresh in the technology space in SBI.   Prior to becoming Managing Director at SBI, he served as Managing Director and CEO of SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd. 

He has been a part of State Bank of India, India’s oldest and largest banking group, for almost three decades now and has handled several assignments for the bank, across various locations in India and abroad.  

As MD & CEO of SBI Cards, he oversaw key partnerships inked with GPay, PayTM, BPCL etc and steered the company through the immediate aftermath of the Covid period.

Earlier, he was the Country Head of the US Operations of State Bank of India from April 2017 to July 2020. This included its offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Sao Paulo (Brazil). Prior to that he was the Regional Head and General Manager, East Asia, for SBI. Based in Hong Kong, he oversaw the business development and control of State Bank of India offices in Hong Kong, China, Japan, Korea and the neighbouring region.  

Over the years, he held other leadership positions at State Bank of India, including, the Deputy General Manager (Operations & Information Systems) International Banking, Head of SBI’s Cash Management, Regional Manager, Branch Head, among others. 

An Electrical Engineer by degree, he is a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB), Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and has done a Certificate Course in Management from XLRI. He also served on the Board of International Institute of Bankers, New York, and the Board of University of Washington Global Bankers Program. 

Philosophy based on the principles of authenticity and bringing about meaningful change keeps him motivated in life. Mr. Tewari is a keen reader, with special interest in Indian history, science fiction and literature. An avid walker and cricket enthusiast, when free,  Mr. Tewari loves listening to old Bollywood melodies.
 

Mr. Rama Mohan Rao Amara took charge as the Managing Director of the State Bank of India (SBI) on 18th Dec 2024 and currently heading International Banking, Global Markets & Technology wings of the Bank. This marks a significant milestone in his illustrious career, underscoring his decades-long commitment to the Bank. Since joining SBI as a Probationary Officer on August 1, 1991, Mr. Amara has risen through various pivotal roles, demonstrating a deep understanding of the banking industry from both financial, operational and strategic perspectives. Mr. Amara’s engineering foundation, combined with prestigious financial qualifications such as CFA and FRM, has enabled him to seamlessly bridge technical and financial domains. His multi-disciplinary skills empower him to integrate technology and finance, ensuring innovative and efficient solutions for SBI. Before assuming the role of Managing Director, Mr. Amara served as DMD & CRO since November 2023. In this capacity, he played a pivotal role in fortifying SBI’s risk management framework, ensuring bank's resilience amidst evolving financial and operational risks. As MD & CEO of SBI Card, Mr. Amara enhanced the company's financial profile, improved operational efficiency, and strengthened its risk management systems, solidifying its market leadership. As CGM of Bhopal Circle, he ensured the Circle’s growth and operational excellence. As CGM (Financial Control), he focused on capital planning, performance monitoring, Asset Liability Management (ALM), and investor relations. As CEO of SBI Chicago Branch, Mr. Amara was instrumental in managing operations in a critical international market. Later, as President and CEO of SBI California, he successfully turned around the loss-making operations, addressed all regulatory issues and significantly improved the risk profile and put the Bank back on the path of growth. Mr. Amara is also a board member of the International Association of Credit Portfolio Managers (IACPM), New York, and contributes to shaping global practices in ever evolving Credit Portfolio managements.

Mr. Rana Ashutosh Kumar Singh has Joined as Managing Director (Risk, Compliance & SARG) on August 7th,2024. Mr. Singh started his career with SBI on 1st August 1991 as a Probationary Officer and has rich experience in various facets of banking. Across, his career of more than 33 years, he has served in various business strategic leadership roles across the globe.

He is a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers and holds an MBA (PGEMP) degree from S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai. He has also attended Leadership Development Programs at Harvard Business School, USA, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, and Stanford Graduate School of Business, California.

He has held key assignments in varied streams viz. Retail & Digital Banking, Credit, Human Resources, and International Banking. Before taking over as Managing Director, he has served as Deputy Managing Director (Retail – Personal Banking & Real Estate), Deputy Managing Director (Transaction Banking & New Initiatives), Deputy Managing Director (Strategy & Chief Digital Officer) and Deputy Managing Director (HR) & Corporate Development Officer. Shri Singh has also steered Chandigarh Circle of SBI as Chief General Manager. He has also served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of German Operations of SBI at Frankfurt. Mr. Singh has also served as Nominee Director of SBI on the boards of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) & its subsidiary companies, NIPL & NBBL and on the board of PSB Alliance Pvt. Ltd.

Shri. S K Majumdar, aged 57 years, is an accomplished banking professional with over 25 years of extensive experience in the industry.

He is a Chartered Accountant and Cost Accountant by qualification.He has been associated with the bank since January 2000 and has served in various capacities across branches and administrative offices which includes project finance. Over the years, he has held key leadership roles, heading Large Corporate Branches, New York branch and Large Corporate Credit Wing. He has also served the bank as Circle Head, Delhi before taking charge as Group Chief Financial Officer (GCFO) of the bank till his elevation as Executive Director.

He is in the Board of Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company Ltd, Canara Robeco Asset Management Company Limited, PSB Alliance Pvt Limited and Canbank Venture Capital Fund Ltd

Shri P R Rajagopal, is a commerce graduate and Bachelor in Law (BL).

He is career banker, over three and half decades of experience in Finance with specialisation in Banking Law and Practice and held senior positions across business verticals particularly in collections and remediation of Stressed Assets.   He was Executive Director in Allahabad Bank from March 2019 to March 2020 and oversaw successful merger of Allahabad Bank with Indian Bank.

He has been with Bank of India since March 2020 and spearheads Retail, MSME and Agriculture portfolios.  He has extensive experience in Human Resources Management and Information Technology having overseen those verticals for over 5 years as Executive Director.

Shri. Rajiv Mishra joined Bank of India as an Executive Director (Whole Time Director) on March 01,2024. Additionally, he is also the Nominated Director and Chairperson on the Boards of

-    STCI Finance Limited &
-    Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company Limited.

Shri. Mishra has 27 years of deep and diverse experience across various lines of Business, Assets & Liabilities both. 

Sh. Mishra through his dynamic leadership in Bank of India as Executive Director is presently spearheading the new Enterprise-wide digital initiatives at Bank of India, through various departments viz. Digital Analytics Department, Digital Banking Department. Further Sh. Mishra also holds portfolio of General Operation Department, EASE, Human Resource Department, Recovery & Resolution of Stressed Assets, Third Party Products, Marketing & Wealth Management & in past has handled Compliance, Risk & Customer Service verticals also. 

Shri. Mishra in his banking career had occupied multiple leadership positions across length & breath of Indian geography and banking business verticals.  
 

Shri Subrat Kumar has been appointed as Executive Director of Bank of India and assumed charge on 21.11.2022. Shri Kumar is a B.Sc., MBA  & CAIIB qualified Banker. He has over 27 years of experience in Commercial Banks / Asset Management Co.

During his long stint in the Banking Industry, he gained varied exposures in all important spheres of operational and strategic Banking with expertise in Treasury, Risk Management, Credit Monitoring & Corporate Credit. He successfully handled the responsibilities such as Regional Head, Patna, Head of Treasury, Audit & Inspection, Credit Monitoring & Corporate Credit. He held the position of Chief Risk Officer and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Bank of Baroda as well.

He was also on the Boards of FIMMDA and BoB Capital Markets Ltd.

As an Executive Director, he is currently handling the following portfolios in Bank of India viz. – Corporate Credit, International & International Subsidiaries, Foreign Business Department, Monitoring of AD Branches, Domestic Subsidiaries, Treasury and Government Business Department.

Ms. Beena Vaheed joined Bank of Baroda as an Executive Director on August 9, 2024.

She began her career as an Officer at Corporation Bank in 1993, significantly contributing to the Bank’s business planning, advertising and publicity efforts, including the successful launch of its IPO in 1997. As a tenured banker, Ms. Vaheed brings in rich and diverse experience of over 33 years across a wide range of verticals including Retail, Agriculture & MSME, Credit Assessment, Risk Management, Compliance & Assurance, ESG, Information Security, Human Resources, Government Banking, Credit Card and Merchant Acquisition and Liability franchise.

Throughout her career, Ms. Vaheed has held multiple leadership roles. As a Branch Head, she led strong business growth, ensured risk & operational compliance and improved market share. As a Deputy General Manager and, subsequently General Manager, she managed one of the largest regions for the erstwhile Corporation Bank, overseeing major corporate accounts and driving substantial business volume and profitability.

Following the amalgamation of Corporation Bank with Union Bank of India, Ms. Vaheed played a pivotal role in cultural integration. She assumed the role of General Manager - HR Operations of the amalgamated entity. Thereafter, in her next assignment, her strategic acumen was instrumental in managing over Rs 2 lakh crore in business as the Zonal Head - Delhi, the second-largest zone for Union Bank of India, focusing on profitability, operations and compliance. In her last stint as Chief General Manager in charge of the Deposit Mobilisation department at Union Bank of India, Ms. Vaheed was responsible for managing all deposit products and spearheading strategic initiatives & structural changes to enhance the Bank’s liability base. She was also in charge of credit cards and Merchant Acquisition.

Under the leadership of Ms. Beena Vaheed, the ESG vertical at Bank of Baroda has formulated a comprehensive Climate Risk Management Policy, establishing a robust framework for managing climate-related risks. The Bank has also introduced a range of green financing products across both asset and liability categories.

In her leadership Bank of Baroda has positioned itself as leading Bank in green deposit mobilization through customised green deposit products.

The Sustainable Finance Framework (SFF) enabled the Bank to raise ₹10,000 crore through India's first Series I Long-Term Green Infrastructure Bonds in March 2026, reinforcing Bank of Baroda's leadership in sustainable finance.

In recognition of its sustainability initiatives, the Bank received the India Climate Samman 2026 Award for Sustainability Investments during India Climate Week (March 2026) at Bharat Mandapam. The award was presented by Hon'ble Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik.

Ms. Vaheed is recognised for her strategic acumen, people development, team building & motivation, and customer engagement skills, making her a well-rounded and dynamic professional.

Her effectiveness as a leader is evidenced by multiple awards and recognition received for outstanding business performance. She received the Distinguished Alumni Award, 2024 from IIM Kozhikode, as a mark of appreciation for her professional accomplishments. Additionally, Ms. Vaheed has served in numerous board and leadership positions. She was a Director on the Board of Union Bank of India Services Ltd. She is currently a Director on the Board of BOB Capital Markets Limited and Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India Private Limited besides the board of Bank of Baroda.

Ms. Vaheed holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Communication and Journalism from the University of Kerala, has completed an Executive MBA from IIM Kozhikode and has received specialised training in Cybersecurity and Leadership. She was a part of the 3rd batch of senior executives selected by Banks Board Bureau (now FSIB) for the Leadership Development Programme organised by IIM Bangalore and Egon Zehnder International Pvt. Ltd. She has also undergone a Director’s certification program in ESG leadership conducted by IICA/MCA.

Ms. Vaheed also participated in the Climate & Nature Risk Symposium hosted by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) on 3–4 June 2025 in London, UK, reflecting her continued commitment to sustainability and evolving global risk management frameworks.

Shri Sanjay Vinayak Mudaliar took charge as Executive Director of Bank of Baroda w.e.f. 31 st January, 2024. Prior to this, he was Executive Director at Indian Overseas Bank (IOB).

Shri Mudaliar is a Post Graduate in Science & Technology and a Certified Project Management Practitioner from London. He is a seasoned banker with a career spanning over 30 years across industries and financial institutions. Of these, he has been associated with Bank of Baroda for over 25 years in various capacities across the country and in the United Kingdom.

In his last assignment at Bank of Baroda before joining IOB, he held the position of Chief Technology Officer of Bank of Baroda's Global Operations spanning across 17 countries.

With his techno-functional knowledge, Shri Mudaliar has contributed immensely in various working groups/committees on product innovation and process refinement. He has also been part of a number of key industry initiatives on Banking and Technology. He is a Nominee Director in three subsidiaries of Bank of Baroda and he also represents the Bank on the Board of NPCI.

Shri Mudaliar is analytical and demonstrates a proactive approach to the highly dynamic environment. He is an avid traveller and reader.

Shri Ashutosh Choudhury is a Senior Management professional with 25 years of Experience across public / private / cooperative sector banks in handling both business function and risk functions. He did MBA in Finance from Pune university and Completed Executive management programme (2019-20) in leadership development from IIM Bangalore in the first batch of Banking Board Bureau (now FSIB)

He assumed charge as Executive Director of Indian Bank on 03rd May 2023. As Executive Director of Indian Bank, he handled portfolios like Corporate & Institutional Credit, Mid Corporate Credit, Human Resource, Accounts & Investor Relations, Subsidiaries & Joint Venture, Planning, Cash Management Services & Supply Chain Finance, Credit Monitoring, Risk Management & Fraud Risk Management, Information & Cyber Security, Estate, Change Management & Digital Adoption, Information Technology, Digital Banking & Digital Business & FinTech Partnership etc.

Prior to joining as Executive Director of Indian Bank, he has served as Chief General Manager & Group CRO of Punjab National Bank. (2021-2023). He served as Zonal Head (2020-2021)., Hyderabad at PNB, top 5 zones in terms of business, and handled business & administrative decision of 440 branches, 7 Circles, 5 Mid Corporate Credit Centres, 5 Retail, Agri & MSME Credit Centres, 3 GBVs & 7 CACs in three states of AP, Telengana & Karnataka. As General Manager, he handled portfolios like Retail Credit, MSME, Financial Inclusion, digital lending etc., improvised credit strategy and strengthened digital lending, fintech and other digital platforms at OBC and PNB, while leading large-scale teams (2017–2020).

Over the course of his service, he has exposure in managing and balancing diverse stakeholders including DFS, regulators, investors, business partners, customers, employees. He is a market savvy leader with an entrepreneurial approach and innovative bent of mind to drive business in a regulated environment which is evident when he established Industry Research Desk, Business Intelligence Unit and EWS for Corporate Credit in PNB.

His proven experience in growing and scaling business lines, operational process and product lines is visible when he implemented Straight through processing of retail and MSME loans in 2017 through Analytically driven Underwriting, Scorecards, BRE and API environment. Further, he has changed Corporate Credit underwriting process in Indian Bank through Data-Driven Digitization. This proves his understanding of technology and ability to leverage the same for advancement of banking operation, process and product. Apart from these, he has high sense of integrity, strong persuasive and passionate communication skills.

Shri Malladi Venkat Murali Krishna joined Central Bank of India as the Executive Director on 1st December, 2022 and the verticals of Corporate Credit, Retail, Agriculture & Social Banking, Financial Inclusion, Co-lending and Administration are being headed by him. 

He is also holding the following positions –

1. Chairman of Cent Bank Home Finance Ltd. (CBHFL), subsidiary of Central Bank of India.
2. Director of Generali Central India Insurance Co. Ltd., a joint venture between Generali and Central Bank of India.
3. Chairman of Cent Bank Financial Services Ltd. (CFSL), subsidiary of Central Bank of India
4. Chairman of the Financial Advisory Committee of IIBM, Guwahati

Before his elevation to this current position, Shri Murali Krishna was Chief General Manager of Bank of Baroda. His last posting in Bank of Baroda was Head of Corporate & Institutional Credit.

MBA in Banking and Finance, Shri Murali Krishna began his career with Bank of Baroda as Probationary Officer and has over three decades of professional banking experience in leadership roles. His expertise extends to all major areas of banking, including Corporate Credit, International Operations, Rural and Agriculture Banking, Financial Inclusion, NRI business etc.

During his long stint in the Banking Industry, he worked from branches to regional offices and from overseas territory to corporate office.

Shri Murali Krishna also held position as a Director on the Board of BOB Capital Finance Ltd, Baroda Gujarat Gramin Bank and AFC Ltd (Agriculture Finance Corporation).

George K John (Bobby) is the Executive Director of ESAF Small Finance Bank and a seasoned banking leader with over 30 years of experience spanning banking, financial inclusion, digital transformation, technology, operations, and institutional development.

He has played a pivotal role in ESAF's evolution from a leading microfinance institution into one of India's prominent Small Finance Banks. Throughout his career, he has led diverse strategic functions including Information Technology, Digital Banking, Operations, Retail Banking, Micro Banking, Treasury, Finance, Corporate Lending, Sustainable Banking, and Enterprise Transformation.

As Executive Director, George is spearheading the Bank's strategic transformation agenda, driving large-scale technology modernization, digital innovation, operational excellence, governance, secured lending and customer-centric growth. He is currently leading ESAF's enterprise-wide transformation initiatives, including next-generation core banking modernization, AI-enabled banking capabilities and the Bank's long-term strategic roadmap for sustainable and profitable growth.

George is widely recognized for his ability to align business strategy with technology, governance, and execution. His expertise includes digital banking, fintech partnerships, banking transformation, operational resilience, enterprise risk, organizational change, leadership development, and inclusive finance.

Beyond commercial banking, he has been deeply involved in development finance and social impact initiatives. His work has contributed to expanding financial inclusion while supporting community development through programs focused on livelihoods, education, water and sanitation, renewable energy, and social entrepreneurship.

He holds an MBA in FinTech from BITS Pilani, a Master's Degree in Social Work from the University of Pune, and a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce.

A regular speaker at national banking and fintech forums, George serves on the Advisory Boards of leading industry conferences and contributes to discussions on digital banking, fintech innovation, financial inclusion, sustainable finance, and the future of banking. He is passionate about building future-ready financial institutions that combine technology, innovation, governance, and purpose to create lasting economic and social impact.

Shri Rakesh Kashyap currently serves as Deputy Managing Director of NABARD, bringing with him over 31 years of extensive experience in the banking sector. Prior to this role, he held the position of Chief General Manager and Group Chief Compliance Officer (GCCO) at Canara Bank. A postgraduate in Agriculture and a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB), Shri Kashyap began his banking career as a Scale I Officer and has since built a distinguished career marked by diverse and progressive leadership roles.

Over the years, he has acquired rich exposure across multiple geographies, having worked in six states and the National Capital Region, handling assignments ranging from rural and semi-urban branches to large metropolitan offices. His professional journey includes leadership roles in specialized domains such as heading the Industrial Finance Branch at Noida and the MSME Hub at Agra. He has also held key administrative positions, including heading Regional Offices in Noida and South Mumbai, as well as leading the Financial Inclusion vertical at Canara Bank’s Head Office. In addition, Shri Kashyap served as Chairman of Andhra Pragati Grameen Bank for over three years, where he led one of the largest Regional Rural Banks in India.

Mr. Rajiv Sabharwal, a B. Tech from IIT Delhi and PGDM from IIM Lucknow, has over 35 years of experience in the banking and financial services industry. Mr. Sabharwal is currently the Managing Director & CEO of Tata Capital Limited. He is also the Chairman of Tata Capital Housing Finance Limited, Tata Securities Limited and Tata Asset Management Company Limited. He is also on the Board of  Tata Capital Pte Ltd. 

He has served as an Executive Director on the Board of ICICI Bank where he was responsible for several businesses including retail banking, business banking, rural banking, financial inclusion, technology and digital banking.  He has also served as the Chairman of ICICI Home Finance Company Limited and was on the Board of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited. He was also on the Investment Advisory   Committee (Real Estate) of ICICI Prudential AMC. 

Mr. Sabharwal has been acknowledged for his contribution to the growth of the Retail Banking and Real Estate & Housing Finance market in India. 

Mr. Sabharwal also has had experience in both Venture Capital and Growth Capital investing at Sequoia Capital and True North. He has served on the Boards of early stage and growth companies in Financial services. 

He has also served on committees of RBI and IBA.  

Mr. Sabharwal has had successful stints with True North Managers LLP, Sequoia Capital, Godrej Group, SRF Finance, GE Capital and Times Bank. 
 

Mr. Nirmal Jain, Founder of IIFL Group, is a first generation entrepreneur, who is credited with building one of the largest financial services groups in India in just about two decades. He is a PGDM (Post Graduate Diploma in Management) from IIM, Ahmadabad, a rank holder Chartered Accountant and a Cost Accountant. 

Under Mr. Nirmal Jain's visionary direction, today IIFL is one of the largest financial services firms in India with three distinct listed businesses – IIFL Finance, 360 ONE (IIFL Wealth) and IIFL Capital. Marquee global investors like Fairfax Group, Bain Capital and ADIA among others back the group companies. IIFL Group has a customer base of over 10 million and has assets worth over $100 billion under management, custody and advise. Mr. Jain is also the founder of 5paisa.com, India’s only listed discount broker.

The Economic Times recognizes Mr. Jain and one of the most promising business leaders in Asia. He has received the CA Entrepreneur Leader Award in the Financial Services category from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and is recognized among the most successful IIM alumnus by Business Today magazine.

Mr. Jain lives in Mumbai with his wife and three children. He is also passionate about contributing to society, especially in the fields of education and healthcare for the under privileged, for which he has setup the IIFL foundation. IIFL Foundation’s flagship project ‘Sakhiyon Ki Badi’, is one of the largest girl child education in India and has already brought 36,000 out of school girls into the education fold in Rajasthan. Mr. Jain is an early-stage investor in dozens of fintechs working towards frugal innovations helping large-impact financial inclusion in India.

Rakesh Singh is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (NBFC) at Aditya Birla Capital Ltd. Since joining the Aditya Birla Group in 2011, he has been instrumental in driving the growth of both the Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) and Housing Finance sectors. With nearly 3 decades of experience in financial services, Rakesh has honed his expertise in both banking and non-banking financial companies. 

Under his leadership, the NBFC business provides comprehensive lending, financing, and wealth management solutions to a diverse customer base across India and is registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as an Upper Layer NBFC. Rakesh is an active member of various industry forums and shares his insights as a member of these forums. 

Prior to joining Aditya Birla Group, Rakesh spent 16 years at Standard Chartered Bank, where he held various leadership roles, including Head of the Mortgages Business in India and General Manager & Head of SME Banking for India and South Asia. 

Rakesh is an alumnus of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program and the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He also holds a postgraduate degree in International Relations.

Mr. Sudipta Roy is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD&CEO) of L&T Finance Holdings Limited.

He is a consumer banking and payments professional with over 24 years of financial services experience. Prior to joining LTFH, Mr. Roy was associated with ICICI Bank for thirteen years. His last stint at ICICI Bank was in the capacity of Group Head, managing diverse businesses like Unsecured Assets, Cards, Digital & Payment Solutions, Student Ecosystem, E-commerce and Merchant Ecosystem, Millennial Banking and API Banking.

Mr. Roy was also responsible for growing the Bank’s unsecured assets business as well as developing and operationalizing digital banking solutions for millennial banking. Under his leadership, the Bank launched education loans, consumer finance and student ecosystem businesses and attained market leadership positions in the credit cards and digital and payments businesses.

Before his assignment with ICICI Bank, Mr. Roy worked in several management roles at Deutsche Bank and Citibank NA for over a decade. Mr. Roy brings a deep understanding of consumer finance and retail loans, cards and payment products,  retail asset portfolio and sales management, retail lending distribution and product management, retail lending technology and allied risk modelling, associated risk management practices, payments and digital banking, execution of digitization initiatives at scale alongside P&L and general management capabilities, having managed large scale business lines, fraud control and collections among others.

He has worked extensively in India, China and Canada in the consumer lending and payments business, having built green-field lending and cards businesses in all three countries.

He was voted as one of the Top 50 Digital Finance Influencers in the country in 2024 as well as the top 30 Fintech Influencers in India in the year 2021 and is a speaker at various forums on Retail Lending and Credit, History of Payments, Risk and Fraud Control and Future of Payments business. Mr. Roy has also been a part of several Government and Reserve Bank of India committees in the areas of transit payment systems, banking security and retail payments.

He is a chemical engineer from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and holds an MBA degree from XLRI School of Management, Jamshedpur.

Mr. Anthony Heredia is a Chartered Accountant and has over 28 years of experience in the investment management industry. The senior roles held by him in the Mutual Fund business include Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, CEO & Whole Time Director of Baroda Asset Management India Limited and Chief Executive Officer of BOI Axa Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. He has extensive experience and a very strong understanding of Sales, Marketing and Investment domains within the business.

Vasu is a Director and a co-founder of BillDesk, India’s largest Electronic Payments Service Platform. Established in early 2000, BillDesk delivers and manages a range of specialized electronic payments, remittance and gateway solutions for various verticals markets such as banking, telecom, insurance, utilities financial services and e-commerce businesses.

Vasu holds a PGDM from IIM Ahmedabad. Prior to founding BillDesk, Vasu worked with ITC Limited and Arthur Andersen.

Mr. Ratan Kumar Kesh has around three decades of experience across industries in leadership roles in multiple domains – Operations, Technology, Transaction Banking, Product, Affluent Banking, Operations Risk, Enterprise Governance, Intelligent Automation, Digital, Cx and Organisation Transformation. He was recognised among the 50 most talented Quality Professionals in India by the World Quality Congress. He was also recognised as one of India’s top 25 Emerging Tech Leaders by BIOCON Network in collaboration with MeitY.

At Bandhan Bank, he has been the Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer since March 31, 2023. He is leading multiple functions including Technology, Operations, Customer Experience, Transformation, Internal Audit, Recovery, and other support functions. Mr. Kesh successfully led the IT transformation at the Bank and has been playing an instrumental role in optimising the processes, controls, customer services, business excellence, etc., at the Bank.

He was part of the core team to lead organisation transformation with technology, digital, governance, quality and customer focus during his tenures at ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Yes Bank and Axis Bank. He was among the first few in the Indian Banking Industry to launch full-fledged Service Quality Framework and Service CRM while in HDFC Bank. To his credit, he transformed the Axis Bank’s operations by imbibing technology, digital and AI. Mr. Kesh is also a Member of Managing Committee of The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He is a B.E (Mechanical Engineering) from NIT, Durgapur and MBA from NMIMS. He is also certified Quality Engineer from Quality Council of Indiana, USA and has completed advance leadership course from IIM-A and Strategic Agility from Harvard. 

Nishant Singh is the Founder & the Global Chief Executive Officer of BUSINESSNEXT (erstwhile known as CRMNEXT), recognized as the No. 1 LEADER in 2025 Forrester Wave For Financial Services CRM. As a founder of a successful and innovative enterprise software product companies, he spearheads India’s notable rise in the global value chain of deeptech products and the digital disruption in the BFSI domain over the last decade. The company is enabling financial institutions towards an autonomous future.

Starting on a bootstrap budget, Nishant has fuelled the company’s profitable growth today with 7 of the top 10 Banks in India as their customers managing overall 61% of Indian banking’s total AUM. BUSINESSNEXT, today has a footprint across 5 continents and direct offices in 14 countries across the North America, Middle East, and APAC. Nishant’s primary focus is on actualising his vision of ‘Autonomous Banking’, where customer journeys will be largely defined by intuitive experiences, a shift from Assisted and Augmented Banking to self-service. He is a strong believer in collaborative transformation which reflects in the way he leads the team at BUSINESSNEXT and how they work with their customers.

An engineering alumnus from the Birla Institute of Technology, he cofounded qMGN Inc, in New York as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Having a firm belief in futuristic tech products, he has to his credit notable industry patents - one of which is the internet bandwidth optimization technique, currently in use by many global giants. He has been an influential voice for large global banks on major transformation initiatives including business process realignment, enterprise architecture, and CX solutions with high business impact. Nishant is the member of the CII Banking Committee and CII Insurance Committee.

Nishant is an intense supporter of individual social responsibility, and his credo is ‘contributing to driving sustainable developmental change’. Towards this endeavour, very early as an entrepreneur, he founded ‘Nimayaa Foundation’, to provide financial and on-ground support to underprivileged students in the areas of quality education and skill development. During the pandemic, he extended his idea of community benefit and adopted a district ‘Kusumdaha’ in the tribal hinterland of Jharkhand. It’s his concentrated efforts toward providing 360-degree developmental opportunities to the residents and
‘winning the right way’.

He is also an avid numismatist and unabashed about his illustrious collection of heritage coins.

About BUSINESSNEXT

BUSINESSNEXT is a leader in composable cloud solutions for financial services which includes CRM, Digital lending, digital servicing, risk rating, credit assessment all powered with industry specific AI. With over a million users worldwide, they’re the driving force behind the AI-powered, hyper-SaaS cloud platforms that are redefining what’s possible in finance. It today powers 1 million+ users financial services, managing 1 billion end customers worldwide. BUSINESSNEXT has its headquarters and R&D center in Noida India, and USA headquarters in Raleigh, with footprint across EMEA, APAC and North America. Its customers in India include The Reserve Bank of India, State Bank of India, HDFC, Axis, Kotak, TATA AIA, Bajaj Allianz and more. It is recognized as a leader by Forrester in financial services CRM Wave and has featured in Gartner Magic Quadrant for 11 years running.

 Sachin Seth is the Chairman of CRIF High Mark Credit Bureau and Regional Managing Director, India and South Asia for CRIF S.p.A. group, Italy. 

Sachin is a thought leader with 3 decades of rich global work experience across Fintech, Digital and Business Consulting space. Currently he is also leading the working group of CII for the “Role of Fintech in Financial Inclusion”.  

In his career, he has worked with leading BFSI organizations globally in helping them build new business models and transformational platforms. Prior to CRIF, he has played leadership roles in the industry as a Senior Partner with EY , Executive Director with IBM, Managing Director of a Insurtech JV between BSE Ltd. and Ebix Inc. and an advisory Board Member of IIM Udaipur Fintech COE.  He holds an Engineering degree with Master’s in management.

Ramanan SV serves as the Chief Executive Officer for India and South Asia at Intellect, the global leader in enterprise-grade financial technology. In this role, he leads Intellect’s mission to redefine the digital landscape of the BFSI sector through innovative, design-led, and AI-powered solutions that deliver business impact.

With more than 30 years of experience, Ramanan has built a distinguished career at the intersection of technology, business transformation, and customer success. His expertise spans change management, Six Sigma methodologies, and large-scale transformation programmes, equipping him to guide financial institutions through complex digital journeys. Over the years, he has worked with some of the largest banks and financial organisations, helping them embrace disruptive technologies while ensuring operational excellence and sustainable growth.

At Intellect, Ramanan plays a pivotal role in shaping the company’s strategy for India and South Asia, one of the most dynamic financial markets in the world. His focus lies in deepening customer relationships, strengthening partnerships, and enabling institutions to leverage Intellect’s eMACH.ai-powered products and platforms to achieve agility, resilience, and future-readiness. Under his leadership, the India and South Asia business has been at the forefront of driving customer-centric innovation, with a strong emphasis on measurable outcomes.

A passionate advocate of Design Thinking and First Principles Thinking, Ramanan believes that financial technology must go beyond process automation to address the real challenges of the industry. His approach combines the rigour of data-driven execution with the creativity of design-led problem solving, enabling teams at Intellect to deliver solutions that are not only technologically advanced but also aligned with client aspirations and regulatory priorities.

Beyond his primary role, Ramanan contributes to the wider Intellect ecosystem as a Non-Executive Director at Intellect Commerce Limited and as a Director at Sonali Intellect Limited. These roles reflect his broader commitment to building organisations that continuously set new benchmarks for innovation and client value.

Known for fostering a collaborative and high-performance culture, Ramanan empowers his teams to experiment, innovate, and deliver outcomes that make a tangible difference for clients and stakeholders. His leadership philosophy is grounded in the belief that technology, when combined with the right mindset and design principles, can transform the way financial institutions operate and serve their customers.

As CEO for India and South Asia, Ramanan continues to steer Intellect towards its vision of being the partner of choice for financial institutions seeking to harness the power of AI, cloud-native platforms, and design-led digital transformation. His journey reflects a rare blend of strategic foresight, operational excellence, and an unwavering commitment to innovation, making him a respected leader in the financial technology landscape.

Ashwani Arora brings over 30 years of leadership at the intersection of banking, technology, and transformation, having shaped the digital journeys of over 200 financial institutions across 50+ countries. His career reflects a consistent thread: helping banks and financial institutions navigate change with confidence, from legacy modernization to the AI-native platforms defining the industry's next chapter.

A Senior Executive Leadership Program alumnus of Harvard Business School, Ashwani combines deep domain expertise with a global outlook shaped by leadership roles spanning India, South East Asia, Japan, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, Europe, North America, and Latin America. Prior to Novel Patterns, he held senior leadership positions at Nucleus Software, where he drove enterprise delivery, global business growth, and strategic client partnerships for some of the world's leading financial institutions.

As CEO of Novel Patterns, Ashwani is driving the company's vision of becoming the defining AI-native platform for credit intelligence and investment operations across high-growth financial markets — trusted by financial institutions to make their most mission-critical decisions. Today, the company powers 150+ financial institutions, including several of the region's leading banks, on their journey toward intelligent, AI-first operations.

Mr. Parag Bhise, Chief Executive Officer of Nucleus Software since March 2020, brings over three decades of diverse experience in technology and business strategy. A stalwart in product engineering and enterprise delivery, he has led the evolution of flagship solutions such as FinnAxia® and FinnOne Neo®, anchoring the company’s growth journey in a dynamic global marketplace.

A technologist with business acumen, Parag has worked across domains including product development, IT infrastructure, delivery, and quality assurance. He has played a defining role in forging strategic customer partnerships, notably with institutions such as Shinsei Bank and Citibank, delivering value through resilient and scalable technology.

As a catalyst of the Nucleus 2.0 vision, Parag has driven internal transformation with a focus on agility, customer success, and innovation. His educational credentials include a Professional Certificate in Innovation & Technology from MIT, an MBA from MDI Gurgaon and an MCA from BIT Mesra.

Beyond his professional accomplishments, Parag remains a staunch believer in integrity, learning, and collaboration principles that continue to shape the organization’s culture and strategy.

Adhil Shetty is the Co-founder and CEO, BankBazaar: India’s largest fintech co-branded credit card issuer and online platform for free credit score with a registered customer base of 50 Mn.

Adhil’s vision is to democratize finance and increase financial inclusion in India through BankBazaar by making personal finance entirely contactless. Under his leadership, BankBazaar has grown to become India’s leading online fintech platform that attracts 250 Mn organic visits per annum.

A Fintech thought leader, Adhil is one of the most widely read expert and influencer on personal finance in India. As a Fintech advocate, he has been working closely with the regulatory bodies to promote a strong digital ecosystem to facilitate greater access to personal finance products. He is also the Co-Chair of the FICCI Fintech Committee.

Hitesh Sahijwala is the Chief Business Officer for APAC & MEA at BUSINESSNEXT, where he leads the company's growth strategy, market expansion, strategic partnerships, and customer engagement across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.

With over 20 years of experience in enterprise technology and banking transformation, Hitesh has worked closely with leading financial institutions to drive digital innovation and business growth. Today, he is focused on helping banks transition from AI experimentation to enterprise-scale adoption, enabling intelligent automation across customer engagement, lending, and servicing.

At BUSINESSNEXT, he is spearheading the expansion of the company's AI-first banking platform across high-growth markets, helping financial institutions operationalize Agentic AI while aligning with regional regulatory and business requirements.

Hitesh is passionate about building high-performing teams, fostering strategic partnerships, and enabling banks to deliver intelligent, customer-centric experiences through next-generation AI and banking technology.

Sameer Shetty serves as the Group Head - Digital Business and Transformation & Strategic Programs at Axis Bank. In this capacity, he oversees the Bank's digital business, strategy, investments, mergers and acquisitions, the customer experience program Sparsh, strategic projects, process excellence, artificial intelligence, and subsidiary governance.

Prior to joining Axis Bank in 2019, Sameer was a Partner at McKinsey & Co., specializing in the financial services sector. His experience includes collaboration with banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), and other financial institutions across India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.

Sameer is a director on the Boards of Freecharge Payment Technologies Private Limited, Freecharge Business and Technology Services Limited, and the Indian Banks' Digital Infrastructure Company (IBDIC). Additionally, he is a member of the NPCI Innovation Council and the Governing Committee of Sahamati.

Sameer holds a Bachelor of Technology from IIT-Bombay and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM Bangalore, where he was recognized on the Directors Merit

Anjani Rathor is the Group Head for Digital and Customer Experience at HDFC Bank. He heads Digital Banking, Customer Experience, Data and Process Excellence at the Bank.

Anjani joined HDFC Bank in 2020. Prior to joining the Bank, he worked with Bharti Airtel and served as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Airtel's Consumer Business. 

An industry veteran with over 20+ years of experience, Anjani brings with him rich and diverse experience across sectors such as Banking, Telecom, Consulting and Aviation. 

Anjani holds a degree in Bachelor of Technology from IIT Kharagpur and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM Calcutta.

Ravi Pichan is the Chief Information Officer & Head Digital Banking at RBL Bank.  Ravi is a Global Business & Technology professional with over 30 years of experience in the Banking, Financial Services & Insurance (BFSI) industry. He has successfully managed complex portfolios of IT investments across organizations & geographies, driving technology strategy, delivering transformation programs aligned to business strategy and steering innovation to fuel business growth. He has been contributing in developing leadership teams and sound management practices by guiding, supervising, and enforcing compliance requirements.

In his current role at RBL Bank, Ravi is responsible for spearheading digital transformation; implementing agile and cost-effective solutions to improve operational efficiency, enabling process automation and simplification of manual operations across the Bank, creating a technology innovation hub to drive a culture of continuous innovation across the Bank.

Prior to joining RBL Bank, Ravi was the Chief Information & Technology Officer at HDFC Life, he has also worked in leadership roles at organisations including Larsen & Toubro Infotech, Capgemini, Barclays, & Bank of America.

Ravi is a Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Science) from Mumbai University and is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt professional.

With over 25 years of experience in business consulting in the Financial Services domain, Manoj leads – and is responsible for managing and growing – the Financial Services business across all client segments for Accenture in India. Prior to that, he led the charter to drive business growth by focusing on strategic initiatives and clients in the market.

Manoj’s expertise lies in leading transformational work with clients across public, private and MNC banks, insurance and asset management companies across areas including customer centricity, merger integration, payments, technology transformation, outsourcing, etc. His strengths span across functions such as business and sales transformation, client portfolio management, building analytical and digital propositions, amongst others.

Manoj specialized in commerce after high school and is a qualified chartered accountant. He currently resides in Mumbai with his family.

Avartan is the Chief of Growth Businesses for Iron Mountain India. Among the portfolio of businesses he oversees, his primary focus is on large-scale AI-driven digital transformation initiatives. He brings over two decades of experience working at the forefront of digital-led business innovation, particularly within the financial services sector.

He began his career in strategy consulting, spending over a decade with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he was one of the senior members of the firm's Financial Services Practice, advising leading financial institutions on strategy, transformation, and business growth. Most recently, he served as Partner – Digital and Insurance at Oliver Wyman India, leading digital transformation and innovation initiatives for clients across the insurance and financial services ecosystem.

Avartan is a member of the ASSOCHAM Banking and Insurance Committees and has also authored industry thought leadership reports, including couple of FIBAC Reports, contributing to key conversations shaping the future of the Indian banking sector.

Beyond consulting, he has held several leadership positions across industries, including leading Strategy for the RPG Group, serving as Head of the Chairman's Office at Disney Star, and founding Taramis Labs Private Limited, where he served as Founder and Director.

Qualifications & Certifications

Qualification: CA (India), CFA (US)
Certifications: International Taxation, Valuation, Forex & Treasury

Professional Snapshot

Industry: Banking and Financial Inclusion
Experience: 18 years of rich experience working with Banks, Credit Bureaus, Rating Agencies, MSMEs, the Agri segment, Technology Automation, and AI
Area of Interest & Expertise: Finance, Numbers, Modelling and Logic
Key Role in OPL: Founder of OPL. Responsible for Leadership, Vision, Strategy, Go-to-Market and Excellence in Execution

Key Projects Delivered

Under the leadership of the Managing Director and the team, OPL has successfully delivered multiple ecosystem-level projects across diverse sectors, including:

• PSB59
• FIT Rank
• JanSamarth
• JanSuraksha
• Prayaas
• GST Sahay
• and other initiatives

These projects span the MSME & Retail, Agriculture & Rural, and Livelihood segments — reflecting OPL’s ability to build scalable solutions that strengthen financial ecosystems and drive inclusive growth.

About OPL

OPL is an innovation-driven ecosystem built on a robust digital infrastructure for the banking industry, now being seamlessly extended into other sectors. Its high-end platforms are deeply integrated with banks and multiple data sources, enabling real-time decision-making and straight-through processing of applications.

Over time, OPL has evolved into an institution-led entity, backed by leading banks and financial institutions. Its top shareholders include SIDBI, SBI, HDFC, BOB, PNB, Indian Bank, TransUnion, CRISIL, NABARD and HSBC among others — reflecting the strong industry confidence in OPL’s vision and capabilities.

Through his exceptional leadership, OPL has achieved sustained growth, delivering consistent performance and rising as a trusted industry leader.

Contact

Website: www.oplinnovate.com
Email: jinand.shah@oplinnovate.com
 

Mr. Kumar Abhishek, in 2013, conceptualized the idea of ToneTag, a unique concept that harnesses the power of sound to enable payments and proximity customer engagement, eliminating any hardware dependency. Kumar aspired to bridge the last mile in financial inclusion, thereby delivering a payment experience that
envelopes the critical masses irrespective of geography, internet connectivity and hardware dependency. He strongly believes that Collaborations and Partnerships enrich and drive abundance than competition. Kumar envision ToneTag to be a global cognitive energy experience through not merely sound but also other elements, hope to re-establish human intimacy using device communication. 

Kumar, with his business acumen and extensive experience in core banking implementation, is a recipient of the National Entrepreneurship Award 2017.Under his remarkable leadership, ToneTag has received numerous awards and recognition namely, Winner of 'Fintech Rising Star;' during India FinTech Awards 2016, Award for the Most Innovative and High Potential Product at NPC 2016, Winner of Infosys Fintech Connect 2017, Winner of MasterCard Start Path Global 2017, Winner of RBI’s first global hackathon – HaRBInger 2021, under two categories – ‘Context based retail solutions’ and ‘Non-mobile digital payment solutions’, Winner of National Start-up Awards 2021 for Financial Inclusion, One of the winners of Grand Challenge for Payments using Feature Phones hosted by NPCI & Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Awarded with ‘Innovation in Digital Payments through Emerging Technology’ by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and many more.

Prior to starting ToneTag, he was with Finacle core banking at Infosys and as a Senior Engineer with MindTree. In addition to his business activities in the entrepreneur space, Kumar enjoys playing golf and the saxophone.

With over fifteen years of experience designing and scaling large-scale financial technology infrastructure across India and the United States, Nirav’s background spans trading systems, financial-data platforms, and regulated banking infrastructure across capital markets and digital financial ecosystems.

At Ignosis, he is building toward a new paradigm for financial services defined by Ambient AI systems, where financial data, operations, and customer experience converge into a continuous intelligence layer. His vision is to move BFSI beyond fragmented workflows into continuously adaptive systems that learn, respond, and improve in real time within regulated environments. Under his leadership, Ignosis has scaled rapidly — growing at over 155 percent year-on-year and expanding its customer base from 50 to more than 130 financial institutions in a single year.

Prior to Ignosis, Nirav founded Pirimid Fintech, building enterprise-grade financial infrastructure for capital markets and banking institutions, including trading systems, robo-advisory platforms, and open-banking solutions. Earlier, he spent over a decade at TradingScreen in New York, where he led development of high-performance trading and execution systems across global asset classes. He actively contributes to India’s financial-data ecosystem and industry initiatives around Account Aggregator frameworks and consent-based data infrastructure.

Aloka Majumdar is Managing Director, Head of Sustainability, HSBC India.

Graduating with Honours in Political Science from University of Calcutta, Ms Majumdar started her career as a financial journalist and went on to specialize in covering Banking and Finance. In 2004 she moved to the banking sector focusing on sustainability and corporate citizenship.

In her capacity as the Head of Sustainability for HSBC Group in India which comprises of the bank and other companies, Ms Majumdar leads the fulfillment of the growing sustainability priorities and initiatives for the Group in India.

She is also a member of the HSBC India Operating Committee (OpCo).

Rajorshi currently serves as Transunion CIBIL’s Head of Strategy and Planning. He’s in charge of shaping and executing Transunion CIBIL’s strategic roadmap. His key focus remains on ensuring long-term success, by identifying new opportunities, transforming existing processes, driving sustainable growth and ensuring Transunion CIBIL’s goals remain closely aligned with the evolving needs of our customers and stakeholders.

Rajorshi brings a wealth of experience spread over 20 years, across various areas of financial services including Consulting, NBFC and Banking. Prior to joining TransUnion CIBIL, Rajorshi was a Partner at Ernst & Young and led their India business for the AI based transformation in financial services. He headed the corporate performance improvement team at Alvarez & Marsal India before Ernst & Young, where he led metricsbased engagements for corporate and Private Equity clients.

Before consulting, Rajorshi spent 12 plus years working in various teams at Bajaj Finserv, driving new products, fee-based income, process transformation, digital acquisition, and analytics, apart from driving strategy at the promoter level.

Satheesh Krishnamurthy is the CEO of The Reserv'e, the HNI business of 3ó0 ONE Wealth, catering to the mid-tier millionaire segment. As one of lndia's Reading wealth and asset management firms, 3ó0 ONE has over US$7ó billion in assets under management.

Prior to joining 3ó0 ONE Wealth, Satheesh played a pivotal role in launching and scaling Burgundy, Axis Bank's affluent private banking business. Under his leadership, the Burgundy and Burgundy Private business grew to an AUM of INR 4.53 trillion (-US$53 billion).

Satheesh has also worked with Citibank across multiple geographies and businesses for over 13 years. In his previous role with Citibank, he led Citigold, Citibank's flagship brand in the affluent market segment. He was instrumental in launching Citigold Private Client (CPC), an exclusive offering for HNI clients with over US$1 million in relationship size with the bank.

Satheesh was featured in Fortune lndia as one of lndia's ‘40 Under 40’ in 201ó and in Business Today as one of’lndia's Hottest Executives in the Corporate Sector’ in 2015. He is a Director on the board of FlAl (Financial lntermediaries Association of lndia), lndia's financial distributors' body, which works to strengthen the cause, development, education, and progress of the wealth management industry.

He graduated from llT Kharagpur and holds an MBA from FMS, Delhi.

Architect of India’s Green Revolution

Vineet Mittal, India's pioneering ‘greentrepreneur’, is redefining the global energy landscape as Founder and Chairman of Avaada Group. With a bold vision to position India as the world’s leading renewable energy hub, he is making a profound impact on the nation’s clean energy transition.

Under his leadership, Avaada has evolved into a diversified energy conglomerate, driving advancements in Renewable Energy, Solar PV Manufacturing, Green Data Centers, Pumped Hydro Storage, Battery Energy Storage Solutions and Green Hydrogen & its derivatives—including Green Methanol and Green Ammonia.

A Global Trailblazer

A distinguished NIT engineer and Harvard Business School alumnus, Vineet Mittal has earned global recognition for his groundbreaking contributions to green energy and digital transformation. In 2022, Avaada achieved a historic milestone—building the one of the world’s largest single-site solar project by a private IPP of 1.25 GWp capacity in Rajasthan.

Beyond business, Mr. Mittal is a recognized thought leader in global climate action. As a World Economic Forum member, he has played a key role in shaping sustainable policies worldwide. He previously served as Co-Chair of the B20 Task Force on Energy, Climate Change, and Resource Efficiency, and currently Chairman of the CII National Committee on Green Hydrogen, championing India’s leadership in the clean hydrogen economy.

In 2025, the University of Engineering and Management, Jaipur, conferred an honorary Ph.D. upon Mr. Mittal in recognition of his pathbreaking contributions to renewable energy, sustainability and technological innovation.

Shaping India’s Digital and Energy Transformation

Vineet Mittal’s journey is a story of vision, innovation, and resilience. In his early career, he was among the pioneering minds at a leading telecom company, helping launch Internet access in India. A trailblazer in the dot-com, BPO, and renewable energy sectors, his entrepreneurial spirit has continuously driven industries forward. His groundbreaking work has earned him numerous accolades, including twice the "Solar Man of the Year" award.

Inspired by the five core elements of Ayurveda—ether, air, fire, water, and earth—Mr. Mittal envisions Avaada as an extension of nature’s bounty, where technology and tradition converge to build a self-sustaining future for generations to come.

Growth with a Higher Purpose

For Mr. Mittal, leadership is a calling, not just a profession. His philosophy of "People Before Profits" ensures that business success is measured not just in numbers but in societal impact. In 2023, Avaada secured a landmark $1.3 billion funding round, proving that when a business is aligned with ethics and values, it attracts global trust and investment—and becomes a force for meaningful change.

Beyond boardrooms, Mr. Mittal remains deeply committed to nation-building. Through the Avaada Foundation, he personally oversees philanthropic initiatives across 15 states in India, addressing critical issues in education, healthcare, and rural empowerment.

A dedicated practitioner of Ashtanga Yoga and a seeker of higher truths, Mr. Mittal believes that inner transformation precedes outer impact. His Karmayogi philosophy, where action is driven by

Pankaj Sharma is Head - Business Transformation at Indusind Bank. In this role, he is responsible for Enterprise wide Business Transformation, Operations & Customer Management.

Mr Sharma's expertise lies in:

- Strategic Transformation: Designing strategies to enhance ROA / ROE and optimize cost-income ratios.
- Digital Banking & Payments Business: Driving innovation, scale, adoption, profi tability and market leadership.
- Operational Leadership: Managing large-scale distributed service footprints and centralized back-offi ce operations.
- Customer-Centric Excellence: Implementing lean-six-sigma and agile methodologies to transform customer service delivery.

As a seasoned leader with over 25 years of experience in the fi nancial services industry, Mr Sharma specializes in driving Transformation, Digital Banking, Payments Business and Operational Excellence. Throughout his career at ICICI Group, GE Money, Axis Bank, RBL Bank, and YES Bank, Mr Sharma has consistently delivered impactful results by building scale, and blending strategic vision with operational rigor. Passionate about leveraging technology and AI to redefi ne fi nancial services, Mr Sharma is committed to building future-ready organizations that prioritize innovation and customer satisfaction

Mr. Sharma is a Certified Master Black Belt, holds an MBA in Finance from Symbiosis, Pune and Bachelor’s Degree in Business Studies from University of Delhi.