TransUnion CIBIL CEO Rajesh Kumar quits; Bhavesh Jain elevated as successor

Credit information company TransUnion CIBIL Ltd on Thursday said Rajesh Kumar, its chief executive and managing director for the past five years, has resigned "recently".

The credit information company said it has elevated Chief Revenue Officer Bhavesh Jain to the position vacated by Kumar, who resigned citing personal reasons.

The timeline for Kumar's departure and Jain's transition into the new role was not specified.

The announcement of the top executive's departure comes days after Congress MP Karti Chidambaram criticised TransUnion CIBIL in the Lok Sabha, and blamed the company for being non-transparent.

Chidambaram had said the "Cibil score" highlighting an individual's credit history has grown to have a big influence on banks while they make lending decisions but there is a lack of transparency.

"Nobody knows how Cibil as an organisation works, we do not know whether they are updating our credit history properly. there is no transparency, there is no way for us to appeal, and there is complete asymmetry between the company which is rating and us. there is no redressal at all," Chidambaram had said.

The TransUnion CIBIL statement issued on Thursday said Jain will continue the "important work" initiated by Kumar.

"Rajesh has communicated his decision to move on and take some time for himself and his family after a continuous 32-year career in financial services. We thank Rajesh for his significant contribution to TransUnion CIBIL's evolution and respect and acknowledge his decision," its chairman V Anantharaman said.

Anantharaman added that the company has grown significantly under Kumar's leadership and wished him well.

Jain joined the company five years ago and has had stints with a diverse set of companies, including Citi and Kone before CIBIL.

TransUnion International's president Todd Skinner said Jain has a "passion for helping India's economy continue to grow" and will focus on "driving sustainable access to credit for millions of people and commercial entities to advance financial inclusion and ease of doing business".

In the statement, Jain was quoted as saying that the company wants to strengthen trust between consumers and businesses in an increasingly digital world.