RBI approves appointment of Sanjeev Nautiyal as MD&CEO of Ujjivan SFB

Third CEO in five years; current CEO Davis to be relieved early

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the appointment of Sanjeev Nautiyal as the managing director & CEO of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank from July 1, 2024, for a period of 3 years. Nautiyal had retired as a deputy managing director in the country’s largest lender State Bank of India.

Nautiyal will join the bank before taking charge as the MD & CEO and will be designated as the president in the interim.

He will be the third MD & CEO of the bank in five years. In 2019, group head of HDFC Bank’s digital banking Nitin Chugh was appointed at the helm of the Small Finance Bank (SFB).

The current CEO, Ittira Davis, took charge in January 2022 after RBI approved his appointment for one year. Last year, the bank said that the regulator had approved the reappointment of Davis for two years with effect from January 14, 2023.

Davis will work with Nautiyal to ensure a smooth transition and the board of the lender has agreed to release him a few months before the actual end of his tenure, the bank said.

In his 36 years in banking, he has served as the Deputy Managing Director (Financial Inclusion & Micro Markets) in State Bank of India (SBI) and has also served as the MD & CEO of SBI Life Insurance. He currently is an independent director of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and acts as an advisor in various organisations.

Nautiyal has expertise across retail, SME, financial inclusion, operations, HR, international banking, and treasury. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in arts and a Master’s degree in business administration. He is also a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers.

Speaking on the approval, Banavar Anantharamaiah Prabhakar, chairman, Ujjivan SFB said, “He is a strategic retail banker with an all-round experience in both the domestic and international markets. His expertise across the banking spectrum in creating and nurturing strong institutions, with customer at the forefront, makes him the natural choice to lead Ujjivan into the future.”

Commenting on his appointment, Sanjeev Nautiyal said, “The transformation of Ujjivan from an NBFC-MFI to a very successful bank, makes it ready to chart new frontiers of financial and digital inclusion. I look forward to working with Team Ujjivan and all the stakeholders.”

Recently, RBI also approved the appointment of Carol Furtado as executive director of the bank, effective May 1, 2024.