Axis Finance Board Committee

Amitabh Chaudhry

Mr. Amitabh Chaudhry, is an Engineer from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani and has done his Post Graduate in Business Management from IIM, Ahmedabad.

He joined Axis Bank Limited as its MD & CEO on 1st January 2019, after successfully leading HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Limited (HDFC Life), for over nine years. Under his leadership, HDFC Life emerged as the finest brand in the life insurance space and is one of India's largest private life insurers.

Prior to HDFC Life, Amitabh Chaudhry was the Managing Director and CEO of Infosys BPO and the Head of testing unit of Infosys Technologies Ltd. He was instrumental in building the BPO right from its inception and was later credited for making it an extremely profitable business having presence across seven countries.

He started his career with Bank of America in 1987 and played diverse roles such as Head of Technology Investment Banking for Asia, Regional Finance Head for Wholesale Banking and Global Markets, Chief Finance Officer of Bank of America (India) and Relationship Manager in Wholesale Banking for Mumbai and Delhi. He moved to Credit Lyonnais Securities in 2001as Head of Structured Finance practice and then also took over as the Head of Investment Banking franchise for South East Asia, before joining Infosys BPO in 2003.

Sai Giridhar

Sai Giridhar brings over 28 years of experience in the Banking domain and has handled leadership roles across various leading private sector banks like HDFC Bank, Yes Bank and IndusInd Bank. He has been instrumental in building and executing strategy for businesses, products and functions. He has significant experience in managing end-to-end P&L andhas driven growth for product categories across consumer lending businesses. He has played a pivotal role inshaping functions like consumer risk management, debt management and led initiatives towards innovation, digitization and technology to ensure high level of business efficiencies and customer centricity.

Sai Giridhar has completed his PGCBM from XLRI Jamshedpur and is an economics graduate with inter in cost accountancy.

Pallavi Kanchan

Pallavi Kanchan completed her graduation in Economics Honours from St Stephen's College in Delhi University. She then went onto complete her post graduation degree in Business Administration from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University.

She started her banking career in 1993 with ANZ Grindlays Bank. Initially in retail banking, she subsequently moved to corporate and then investment banking. She has worked with Standard Chartered Bank (Head Commercial Real Estate) and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. (Director, Global Banking) and has over two decades of corporate and investment banking experience. She then went on to apply her management expertise in the media space and was the Chief Executive Officer, The Indian and Eastern Engineers Co. Pvt Ltd, Publisher of Verve and IQ magazines.

She champions Diversity and Women's empowerment at the workplace and is currently working in the social sector focusing on revival of the folk arts and crafts of India, helping generate sustainable livelihoods for artisans, providing higher education for the under privileged and improving and uptiering the local community and neighbourhood.

She is an independent director on various boards : Mahindra Holdings Limited (2016 - 2021) ‚ Axis Finance Limited (2023 - present) , Purearth Infrastructure Limited (2023- present) , Trustee board Canara Robeco Mutual Fund ( 2024 - present), SBM Bank (India) Limited (2024 - present) and Karta Initiative India Foundation (2022 - present).

B Babu Rao

Shri Babu Rao, holds a Bachelor degree in Engineering and received MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Shri Babu Rao has more than 35 years of varied experience in the Corporate sector and Financial Institutions. Proven track record of transformational leadership in restructuring and running large organizations successfully leading to sustainable growth of Business.

During his career in UTI Mutual Fund and SUUTI he has handled various assignments and extensively worked in the areas of Capital Markets, Project Finance, Investment Management, Offshore Funds, Venture Capital and Private Equity Funds, resolution of stressed assets and investor relations.

Prior to joining UTl in the year 1989, he worked with Larsen & Toubro Ltd. for five years. He has travelled widely both in India and abroad and networked with Industry and various Capital market participants.

Shri Babu Rao has been a Director on the Boards of Public and Private limited companies for the past many years. He has been providing continuous guidance to companies as a Board member and as a member of the committees of the Board.

U B Pravin Rao

U B Pravin Rao is Former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Infosys and a Whole-time Director of the Board. He superannuated in Dec 2021 after serving over 35 years at Infosys. Since joining Infosys in 1986, he has held a number of senior leadership roles including Interim Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer, Head of Infrastructure Management Services, Delivery Head for Europe, and Head of Retail, Consumer Packaged Goods, Logistics and Life Sciences. He was inducted on January 10, 2014 as a member of the Board. He was elevated to COO in August 2014. He was a member of the Stakeholder Relationship Committee and the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee of the Board. In addition, he participated in all Board committee meetings as Management representative. As the COO, Mr. Rao had overall strategic and operational responsibility for the entire portfolio of the Infosys’s offerings. Mr. Rao oversaw the key functions of global delivery and business enablement.

Mr. Rao holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from Bangalore University, India. He was Chairman of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) in FY 2021. He was a member of Executive Council of NASSCOM from 2016 through 2022. He was also a member of the National Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) from 2016 to 2021.

Apart from Axis Finance Limited, he also serves as Independent Director on the Boards of Indegene Limited, Suven Pharmaceuticals Limited, Zensar Technologies Limited and CAMS.

K Narasimha Murthy

K. Narasimha Murthy, having brilliant academic records, getting ranks in both CA & ICWA courses entered the Profession of Cost & Management Accountancy in 1983. He is associated with the development of Cost & Management Information Systems for more than 175 Companies covering more than 50 Industries. In addition, he is closely associated with turning around of many large Corporates, focusing on systems improvement with Cost Reduction approach.

He is presently on the Boards of Raymond Ltd., Axis Finance Ltd., NELCO (A TATA Enterprise), Raymond Lifestyle Ltd., Max Financial Services Ltd., Max Healthcare Institute Ltd., Max Life Pension Fund Company Ltd. Further he is a Member of the External Rating Supervision Committee of CARE Ratings. In addition, he is associated as Member Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Internal Audit Committee and Member on the Cost Accounting Standards Board of Institute of Cost Accountants of India.

Earlier he was associated as a Director with National Stock Exchange India Ltd., (NSE) (2020-23), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC) (2013-16), IDBI Bank Ltd.(2001-11), LIC Housing Finance Ltd.(2005-15), UTI Bank Ltd., (presently AXIS Bank)(1999-2004), Member Board of Supervision NABARD (2005-15), Unit Trust of India (UTI) (2002-03), IFCI Ltd.(2008-09), Max Life Insurance Company Ltd. (2013-24), STCI Finance Ltd. (Formerly Securities Trading Corporation of India Ltd.)(2013-19), AP State Finance Corporation(2009-15), Infiniti Retail Limited (TATA Croma) (2013-19), Max Bupa Health Insurance Co. Ltd. ( 2009-19), Max Specialty Films Ltd., (2014-2022), Max Ventures & Industries Ltd. (2016-2022), Shivalik Small Finance Bank Ltd. (2021 - 24), APIDC Ltd., (1995) etc. As Chairman of Expert Committee on Urban Co-op. Banks (UCBs) (2002) in AP, analysed the performance of more than 140 UCBs. Recommendations of the Committee are well received / accepted, being implemented by the concerned agencies.

He is closely involved with several National Level Institutions. He has been associated with more than 45 High Level Committees as Chairman / Member both at National & State Level, which include Audit Reforms Implementation Committee on Public Sector Banks, Prasara Bharati Restructuring Committee, Expert Committee on Commonwealth Games, Restructuring Committee of State Level PSUs, Expert Committee on Co-op. Credit Institutions, Fiscal Reforms Implementation Committee etc.

Deepak Maheshwari

Deepak Maheshwari was a Chief Credit Officer of Axis Bank Limited from January 2019 till April 2022. He was responsible for policy, sanctions and monitoring of the entire credit portfolio of the Bank. He joined Axis Bank Limited after spending two decades at HDFC Bank, where he had similar responsibilities for the wholesale credit portfolio. Prior to that, he spent another two decades in SBI in various management functions, his last major posting being Vice President (Credit), SBI Canada, Toronto.

Deepak Maheshwari is a B.Com from the University of Rajasthan and a Certified Associate of the Institute of Banking and Finance.

Narasimhan Rajashekaran

Shekar began his journey as a global banker in 1985, spanning a 39-year career, With the last 24 years at Citibank across 6 countries. He is an Independent Board Director in India and has also served on the boards (including as chairman) of Citi legal vehicles & Industry chambers. He is a Fintech Advisor and serves on the India Advisory Council of the Perkins School for the Blind. He has been the Chief Executive for Country Franchise and Consumer Businesses across India, China, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka aligning and executing strategies for Growth, Digital transformation, cost efficiency improvements and turnaround of portfolios facing severe credit stresses. He has executed both merger and divestment of portfolios as part of repositioning some of the businesses he has led. He has executed Governance for dynamic, proactive, and resilient business and risk management, covering strategic, reputation, balance sheet, market, credit, operational, and compliance risk vectors. He has executed Client Excellence and Digital Transformation including pioneering digital solutions for both consumer and institutional clients across trade, treasury management, consumer client interfaces & partner access value propositions. He has led teams of over 3,000 people for high performance, alignment, teamwork, and ethical culture transcending cultural and language barriers to build high-performing & highly satisfied teams. He has built strong relationships with clients, regulators, government, community, and other stakeholders including advocacy for ease of doing business and FDI. He has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and B.E. (Mechanical) from Delhi College of Engineering. He has secured Independent Director Proficiency Certification from IICA (under the aegis of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs).

Vishal Sharan

Vishal Sharan has 22+ years of experience in financial services industry across businesses involving lending, investments, corporate coverage, credit & portfolio management and corporate investment banking across both debt as well as equity capital markets.

He has been associated with the Axis Group since 2005 across functions which has provided extensive exposure into multiple businesses at different maturity levels.

He is associated with Axis Finance Limited since 2013 as one of the key founding members leading the Wholesale Business from scratch. Under his leadership, the business grew multifold and has emerged as an industry leading wholesale lending franchise across parameters viz, growth, asset quality, return metrics, employee productivity and clients' trust. In his present role as the President and Business Head of Wholesale & MSME, he holds end-to-end P & L responsibility and is responsible right from business origination to stress asset resolution / recovery. He has also headed the Corporate Credit function at Axis Finance Limited earlier.

Mr. Sharan has graduated in Commerce with Honors in Accountancy, LL.B and is also a member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).