Top bankers who are back in India after a successful innings abroad

N Sundaresha Subramanian reports on the global stars who are betting big on small banks.

They are small town boys who went on to make it big in global financial powerhouses. 

Now, they are back. Over the past several months, these blue-blooded bankers, all in their 50s, have either picked stakes in local non-banking financial companies or initiated process of setting up one from scratch.

Reserve Bank of India’s on-tap licensing policy, announced on Monday, seems to have opened up new possibilities for these ventures.

With big corporate groups and public sector competition out of the way, these seasoned money men seem to have placed themselves in sweet spots.

Will they lead India’s new little banks like they have led global behemoths?

Vikram Pandit, 59 

Early years: Nagpur

Education: Columbia Business School

Claim to fame: Former Citibank chief, steered the bank through global financial crisis

India venture: 50% stake through his fund in FICS Consultancy Services, a JV with JM Financial

Focus area: Realty loans 

Anshu Jain, 53

Early years: Jaipur

Education: SRCC; University of Massachusetts Amherst

Claim to fame: Co-CEO, Deutsche Bank

India venture: SoftBank-backed NBFC venture

Focus area: Education, housing, small & medium enterprises 

Jaspal Bindra, 55

Early years: Meerut

Education: St Xaviers, Kolkata; XLRI Jamshedpur

Claim to fame: Asia-Pacific CEO, StanChart

India venture: 20% stake in Centrum Capital

Focus area: Centrum has an NBFC arm, focusing on retail lending; interested in housing loans 

Anil Chawla, 51

Early years: Chandigarh

Education: Panjab University; CIMA, UK

Claim to fame: Was MD, DE Shaw, GE India; head-capital markets, American Express Bank

India venture: Bought over GE Capital Services along with Genpact’s Pramod Bhasin and AION Partners

Focus area: Commercial finance