RBL Bank MD Vishwavir Ahuja gets shareholders' nod at AGM for fourth term

Shareholders of RBL bank approved the reappointment of Vishwavir Ahuja as the managing director and chief executive for the fourth term.

According to the results of the voting held at the 21 September 2021 annual general meeting, as much as 99.94% of shareholders who participated in the voting favoured the reappointment of Vishwavir Ahuja as the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) for the fourth term beginning June this year.

Ahuja, a veteran with close to 35 years of experience, joined RBL in 2010 and has been successful in transforming it into a vibrant, new-age bank. Before joining the bank, he headed Bank of America India from 2001 to 2009.

Under his leadership at RBL, its business has grown 46-fold and advanced over 50 times, and its net profit has steadily grown from Rs 12 crore in FY11 to Rs 508 crore in FY21, while customer base has grown from just about 2.5 lakh in FY11 to around 1 crore now.

The bank employs 17,000 people now, up from 700 when he took over.

The 78th AGM of the bank was held on Tuesday, 21 September 2021, through video conferencing or other audio-visual means along with Scrutinizer's Report dated September 21, 2021.

In January 2021, the board of RBL Bank had approved a three-year extension for Ahuja from June 30, 2021 to June 29, 2024.

However, in June this year the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved only a one-year extension for Ahuja as MD & CEO of the bank with effect from June 30, 2021.

On a standalone basis, RBL Bank's net loss stood at Rs 459.47 crore in Q1 June 2021 (Q1 FY22) compared with net profit of Rs 141.22 crore in Q1 June 2020 (Q1 FY21). Total income rose 4.92% to Rs 2,720.50 crore in Q1 FY22 from Rs 2,592.73 crore in Q1 FY21.

RBL Bank offers specialized services under five business verticals namely: corporate & institutional banking, commercial banking, branch & business banking, retail assets and treasury and financial markets operations. It currently services over 9.83 million customers through a network of 435 branches, 1,422 business correspondent branches (of which 271 banking outlets) and 380 ATMs spread across 28 Indian states and Union Territories.

Shares of RBL Bank rose 2.06% to Rs 182.90. The stock hit a high of Rs 183.90 and a low of Rs 180.05 so far.