9 former Axis Bank execs take top leadership roles across financial sector

Axis Bank has emerged as a major leadership talent pool for India's financial sector, with former executives taking top roles across banks, NBFCs and financial institutions

Axis Bank, the country's third-largest private sector lender, has in recent years seen a steady stream of senior executives move into top leadership roles across banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and other financial institutions, emerging as the industry's newest breeding ground for banking leaders — a mantle long associated with ICICI Bank.

 

The list has continued to grow in recent weeks. Most recently, Puneet Sharma stepped down as Axis Bank's chief financial officer (CFO) to take over as CFO of HDFC Bank, the country's largest private sector lender.

 

Rajiv Anand, who spent over a decade at Axis Bank and rose to become deputy managing director, is now managing director and chief executive officer (MD&CEO) of IndusInd Bank.

 

Neelkanth Mishra, former chief economist at Axis Bank and a whole-time director at Axis Capital, has also moved to a prominent global role as executive director at the World Bank's headquarters in Washington for a three-year term. Mishra also serves on the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, chairs the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and is a member of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

 

The list extends well beyond these appointments. Pralay Mondal, former executive director and head of retail banking at Axis Bank, is now MD&CEO of CSB Bank. Arjun Chowdhry, who headed affluent banking, cards, payments and retail lending at Axis Bank, is now MD&CEO of Grihum Housing Finance.

 

Jairam Sridharan, former CFO of Axis Bank, now heads Piramal Finance as MD&CEO, while Ravi Narayanan, who led the bank's retail franchise, is MD&CEO of SMFG India Credit.

 

Axis Bank's alumni network also includes Apurva Sahijwani, now MD&CEO of Avendus Wealth Management, and Ratan Kumar Kesh, executive director and chief operating officer at Bandhan Bank.