With an eye on the future

BS PEOPLE: V Vaidyanathan

V Vaidyanathan, Managing Director & CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, who is set to move to Future Capital as Vice-Chairman and co-promoter, faced a dilemma. The 42-year-old BIT and Harvard alumnus shared a great working relationship with ICICI Bank Managing Director & CEO Chanda Kochhar, calling her “a great business leader”, and treats KV Kamath, the financial services giant’s Chairman, as his mentor.

But, when the opportunity to turn entrepreneur came his way, he decided to give up the comfort of a large organisation and gave it a go. He has a significant stake, which market estimates place at 9-10 per cent. In his new role, which he will take on soon, Vaidyanathan will oversee Future Group’s financial services businesses, which includes life and general insurance, as well as consumer finance.

 

Vaidyanathan has an entrepreneurial bent, say sources close to him. His young age may have also given him the liberty to take the plunge. “He has the experience of running retail businesses, and brought a fresh perspective to ICICI Prudential Life in a short time. So, probably, he was looking for new challenges,” said a colleague.

While Vaidyanathan leaves a big brand, he has the task of ensuring Future Capital is no longer a laggard in the financial services space. It has struggled for years with a small book. Also, the fledgling insurance ventures will suffer from lack of scale in the new environment.

Vaidyanathan refuses to talk about his strategy at Future. But, Group CEO Kishore Biyani told Business Standard that the immediate goal is to consolidate holdings across businesses. The idea is to leverage the strengths of each business and cross-sell.

While Vaidyanathan has the experience of growing businesses and cross-selling, his task is clearly cut out for him in the future.