Shankar to head IDFC's proposed bank rural foray

He will be heading the initiative called 'Bharat Bank'

Having received the in-principle nod to start a full fledged bank, IDFC on Friday appointed Ravi Shankar as the head of the proposed bank's financial inclusion and rural business initiative.

Shankar, who joins the company from non bank lender Fullerton India Credit Company, will be heading the initiative called 'Bharat Bank', a statement from IDFC said. He will be responsible for conceptualising and building the rural and inclusion business in the bank and will be based at the corporate office in the country's financial capital, it said.

At Fullerton, Shankar was the head of business and marketing and took care of both urban and rural businesses, and corporate social responsibility activities, it said.

He has been associated with various sectors including retail finance, business consulting, advertising, automotive and aviation in a career spanning 29 years, it said.

"Ravi has managed large teams across geographies and has been instrumental in running a rural finance business profitably. His rich and varied experience would be a great value-add to IDFC, in building the organisation that we aspire to, and in fulfilling our financial inclusion mandate," IDFC's Executive Chairman Rajiv Lall said.

IDFC, which has been primarily engaged in infra lending, and the micro lender Bandhan were selected by the Reserve Bank earlier this year, among two dozen aspirants to convert themselves into full-fledged banks.

The in-principle nod is active for 18 months, during which the institutions will be preparing the groundwork and raising the required capital.

The RBI has been maintaining that the intent of allowing new players in the fray is to deepen the financial inclusion in the country.