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
