Board of Directors

Mr. Pradeep Kumar Sinha joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1977 after completing his Masters in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics in 1976. He had graduated in Economics (Honours) from St. Stephens College, Delhi. While in service, he completed M. Phil in Social Sciences in 1991 and was a Visiting Fellow in University of Oxford during 1999. He has also attended prestigious programmes, such as, on ‘Mergers and Acquisitions’ in University of Stanford and on 'Leaders in Development' in Harvard University.

In the formative years, he served in the State of Uttar Pradesh, whereafter he served mostly in the Government of India and rose to the highest position of Cabinet Secretary, the head of civil services. He served as the Cabinet Secretary for more than 4 years before moving to the Prime Minister’s Office. He retired from there in March 2021 after 44 years of continuous service to the nation.

In the Govt. of India, he worked mostly in the Power and Oil & Gas (Petroleum) Ministries for about 15 years. Notable positions held in Gov’t of India include: Financial Advisor and Special Secretary, Petroleum and Natural Gas; Secretary, Ports and Shipping; and Secretary, Power.

He has been a Government Nominee Director in numerous major Public Sector Undertakings and is therefore well versed with the principles of healthy corporate governance. These include ONGC, IOCL, HPCL, BPCL, GAIL, etc. In particular, he was on the Board of Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) for about 7 years at a stretch and similarly on the Boards of BPCL and HPCL for about 6 years each.

By virtue of his experience, he has developed expertise in the sectors of Agriculture and rural economy, Banking, Co-operation, Economics, Finance, Small Scale Industry, Payment and Settlement Systems, Human Resources, Risk Management, Business Management, Energy & Infrastructure and Urban

Other Directorships

Mr. Subramanian Madhavan is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He has around 38 years of experience in Accountancy, Economics, Finance, Law, Information Technology, Human Resources, Risk Management, Business Management and Banking. He started his career with Hindustan Unilever Limited. He had thereafter established a highly successful tax practice and served large Indian and multinational clients. He was then a senior partner and Executive Director in PricewaterhouseCoopers Private Limited. He has also served as the President Northern Region, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and has been a past Co- Chairman, Taxation Committee, ASSOCHAM. He is a member of the Institute of Directors, the All India Management Association and the Delhi Management Association.

Other Directorships

Ms. Neelam Dhawan is an Economics Graduate from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University. She also has a MBA degree from Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, India. Ms. Dhawan has over 38 years of experience in the information technology industry. Starting from 1982, she has held various positions across HCL, IBM, Microsoft and Hewlett Packard. She has been Managing Director and leader of the Country businesses for 11 years for Microsoft and later Hewlett Packard in India. Her last executive assignment was that of Vice President for Global Industries, Strategic Alliances, and Inside Sales for Asia Pacific and Japan, for Hewlett Packard Enterprise till March 2018.

Over several years, leading business journals such as Fortune (international edition), Forbes and Business Today have recognized her as one of the Most Powerful Women in Business. Her main area of expertise are managing complex technology businesses in highly matrixed organizations. She has experience of IT transformation across multiple industries: banking and finance, telecommunications, manufacturing, health care and government.

She has been a key participant in shaping the IT industry in India. Her career span covered the industry’s major milestones and had the opportunity to work alongside the key architects of the sector in India. She was on the NASSCOM Executive Council from 2009 to 2017 and made significant contributions to the industry strategy and public policy frameworks.

Other Directorships

Mr. Radhakrishnan Nair holds degrees in Science, Securities Laws, Management and Law. He has around forty years of experience in the banking industry and in the field of securities and insurance regulation. He started his banking career with Corporation Bank in August 1976 and in 2003 he became General Manager, in charge of Recovery Management Division, Legal Service Division and Credit Risk Management Division and development of priority sector lending and regional rural banks.

He has also served as the Managing Director of Corporation Bank Securities Limited. During his tenure at Corporation Bank, he was responsible for development of priority sector lending and regional rural bank which covered the areas of agriculture, small scale industry and other priority sector areas. In July 2005, he became an Executive Director at Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), where he handled the Investment Management Department (mutual funds, venture capital funds and foreign venture capital investors), Corporate Debt Department, Economic and Policy Analysis Department, Office of Investor Assistance and Education and Surveillance. In March 2010, he joined Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) as Member (Finance and Investment). During his tenure he ushered in new investment and accounting regulations for the life insurance and general insurance sectors. He was also involved in framing the new regulatory architecture for Unit Linked Insurance Plans and also chaired the committee on implementing IFRS and the new corporate governance framework for insurers. He thus has special knowledge and practical experience in, inter alia, accountancy, agriculture and rural economy, banking, co-operation, economics, finance, law, insurance, small scale industry, payment & settlement systems, human resources, risk management and business management.

Mr. Nair has rich and varied experience in branch, regional and corporate banking apart from treasury management and foreign exchange management. He was the Managing Director of Corpbank Securities Limited from 1999 to 2003, a Primary Dealership, licensed by RBI. He was member of the IOSCO sub-committee on Investment Management, Investor Compensation and Protection, Private Equity from 2008 to 2010. At the IAIS he was the nominee on Sub-Committees on accounting, auditing, governance, group supervision, insurance standards and financial stability.

He was SEBI nominee on NACAS from 2005 to 2010, Investor Protection and Compensation Committee (MCA) and IRDA nominee on the RBI Technical Committee on Money, Government Securities and Foreign Exchange Markets, SEBI COBOSAC from 2010 to 2015.

Other Directorships

Mr. B. Sriram is a Certificated Associate of the Indian Institute of Banking Finance (formerly The Indian Institute of Bankers), Mumbai. He holds a Diploma in International Law & Diplomacy from the Indian Academy of International Law & Diplomacy, New Delhi and an AIMA Diploma in Management from the All India Management Association, New Delhi. He is also an M.Sc in Physics and B.Sc (Hons) in Physics from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University.

Mr. Sriram was

Managing Director & CEO, IDBI Bank Ltd from June 30, 2018 to September 29, 2018.

Managing Director, State Bank of India from July 2014 to June 2018.

Managing Director, State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur from March 2013 to July 2014

He has worked with State Bank of India for about 37 years and is well experienced in all areas of Banking and Finance. He joined State Bank of India as a Probationary Officer in December 1981 and held various key assignments and experience within the Bank and the State Bank Group encompassing Credit and Risk, Retail, Operations, IT, Treasury, Investment Banking, International Operations, Payment and Settlement Systems and Small Scale Industry. He was a Part Time Member of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI).

Other Directorships

Ms. Vibha Paul Rishi holds a Masters degree in Business Administration with a specialisation in Marketing from the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi. She also holds an Honours in Economics from Lady Sri Ram College, Delhi University. She started her career with Tata Administrative Service and was part of the core start-up team of Titan Watches. She was thereafter associated with PepsiCo for 17 years in leadership roles in the areas of marketing and innovation in India, US and UK. She was also one of the founding team members of PepsiCo when they started operations in India. She later moved to PepsiCo's headquarters in the US to be a part of its international marketing team, which was followed by an innovation leadership role in London. Her last role in an executive capacity was as Executive Director, Brand and Human Capital of Max India prior to which she was the Director, marketing and customer strategy at the Future Group.

Ms. Rishi is an accomplished marketing specialist with international experience in spearheading global marketing campaigns for high-visibility consumer products. She has worked at senior positions in branding, strategy, innovation and human capital around the world. Her core competency includes product rebranding, new product development and launch, alignment of global marketing teams of start-ups, entering new international markets, best practices and organisational structure. Given her many years of experience as a Board and Committee member in many leading companies, she has gained specialized knowledge and practical experience in Accountancy, Agricultural and rural economy, Economics, Finance, Information Technology, Human Resources Management, Risk Management, Business Management, Consumer Insight & Marketing and Strategy.

She serves on the Boards of several reputed companies and their Board level Committees including the Audit Committee, the Risk Management Committee, the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, Stakeholders’ Relationship Committee and Corporate Social Responsibility Committee. She is also associated with Pratham (Indian NGO), an NGO that works to provide education to underprivileged children in India.

Other Directorships

Mr. Rohit Bhasin is a Chartered Accountant with a rich and varied experience of working for more than 21 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). In the past 5 years he has also been involved as an Independent Director and Audit Committee Chairperson of several leading listed Indian companies such as Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Limited, Dr. Lal Pathlabs Limited and Yatra Online Limited.

In PwC, he was for several years a member of the India Leadership team and the Partner Oversight Committee and gained useful knowledge and insights in the areas of Governance, Business Management, Risk Management, Leadership Development skills and Human Resources. His awareness of Banking services was developed during his nearly decade long experience of working with Standard Chartered Bank in India.

Other Directorships

Mr. Punit Sood has a Bachelor degree in Electronics & Communications from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee in 1986 and a Post Graduate Programme in Management, Information Systems from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in 1988. He is a senior executive with over 35 years of experience in the Banking and Information Technology space. He has led high impact teams which have helped global financial institutions accelerate the effective deployment of technology platforms and solutions to enhance customer experience and business growth. In the past, he has been the Managing Director at NatWest Digital Services India Private Limited; Managing Director and Chief Information Officer at JP Morgan Services India, and Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Citi Technology Services India.

Other Directorships

Ms. Vijayalakshmi Iyer graduated from M.L. Dahanukar College of Commerce and did her post graduation from Sydenham College of Commerce Mumbai. She is also a certified associate of the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance.

She has nearly four decades of experience in the banking and finance sector in India. She has served as the chairperson for a number of boards and committees in the financial sector in India including the Banking and Financial Institute Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. She is currently on the Boards of multiple Indian companies.

She retired as the Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of India in May 2015 where she played an instrumental role in structuring it as an umbrella institution offering all kinds of banking and financial services. Under her leadership, Bank of India received the ‘Best PSU Bank’ award for overall growth in performance from Dun & Bradstreet and was recognised as the ‘Second Most Trusted Brand among the PSU Banks’ by the Economic Times. She also served as member (finance & investment) at IRDAI from June 2015 to May 2017 where she played a significant role in the introduction and amendment of various regulations related to, inter alia, finance and accounts, corporate governance, mergers and acquisition, registration of new insurance companies and exposure of management.

She is the recipient of the “Best Banker” award at the India SME Excellence Awards – 2013, and MSME Excellence Award from the Deputy Chairperson, Planning Commission, Government of India during her tenure with Bank of India. She is also the recipient of Golden Peacock HR Excellence Award – 2012 for best HR practices at Central Bank of India.

Other Directorships