BS People: Anand Sinha

Capital gain

He’s a physicist by training, often mistaken for a law graduate, but a banker by profession. Meet Anand Sinha, who will replace Usha Thorat as RBI deputy governor on her retirement in November. Armed with a master’s degree in physics from IIT-Delhi, the 59-year-old Sinha has worked across the departments of foreign exchange, banking operations, and supervision, among others, over his three-and-a-half decades with RBI.

Sinha’s experience in implementing Basel-II could come in handy as India’s already well-capitalised banks gear up to fund the $1.2-trillion economy’s 8.5 per cent growth.

Almost two decades ago, Sinha was part of the first management audit of SBI, and later of a securities scandal that exposed the weaknesses and lax regulation of India’s financial system. Banks lost almost Rs 4,000 crore as they traded banker’s receipts, many of which turned out to be worthless paper. But, that was 1992.

In 2010, one of the challenges facing RBI will be to turn paper worthless, as India looks to technology to triple the reach of banking.