Zero Charges on 28 Commonly Used Savings Account Services
Customer care hotlineCall 1800 10 888
Managing Director & CEO
Mr. V. Vaidyanathan is the first Managing Director and CEO of IDFC FIRST Bank, a bank founded by the merger of Capital First and IDFC Bank in December 2018.
With over two decades in financial services in India, V. Vaidyanathan has seen India through many lens - first as a banker (1990-2000, Citibank), (2000-2009, ICICI Bank), then as an entrepreneur (2010-2019, Capital First) and a professional banker again (2019- date, after merging Capital First with IDFC Bank). He worked with Citibank Consumer Banking from 1990-2000, then set up ICICI Group's retail banking from 2000-2009 since its inception, built ICICI Bank's branch network to 1411 branches and 28 million customers, built a large CASA and retail deposits franchise, and built the retail lending businesses including mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and personal credit businesses to Rs. 1.35 trillion($30 bn). He was appointed at the Board of ICICI Bank in 2006 at age 38. In 2009, he became the MD and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company in India.
In 2010, he quit ICICI Group for an entrepreneurial opportunity to acquire an NBFC with an idea to convert it to a bank focused on consumer and MSME lending. On acquiring equity stake, he shut down all non-core businesses like broking and real estate financing, and instead used the NBFC platform to build MSME and Consumer Financing businesses, based on new technologies and algorithms. Between 2010 to 2018, he grew the loan book from startup stage to Rs. 29,600 crores (US$4.05 bn), grew the equity capital from Rs. 691 crores (US$118 mn) to Rs. 3,993 crores (US$600 mn), reduced Gross NPA from 5.28% to 1.94%, reduced Net NPA from 3.6% to 1%, acquired 7 million customers, got the long-term credit rating upgraded from A+ to AAA, turned around the company from losses of US$5 mn (2010) to profit of US$50 mn (2018), increased ROE from -6% to +15%, and increased the market cap 10 times from Rs. 780 crores (US$120 mn) to Rs. 8,200 crores (US$1.2 bn) in 8 years. Capital First was growing at a 5-year CAGR of loan growth of 30%, and 55% in PAT between 2013-2018.
Then, in order to secure a commercial banking license, he agreed to merge Capital First with IDFC Bank in December 2018 and took over as the MD and CEO of the merged entity. Since then, between December 2018 to December 2020, he has increased retail loan book from 13.16% pre-merger to over 60.35% (Rs. 66,665 crores) of the total funded assets, increased Net Interest margin from 1.68% pre-merger to 4.65%, increased CASA from 8.68% to 48.31%, turned the bank into profitability, and is currently busy converting the bank into a world-class retail bank in India. The bank now has over 10 million customers and loan book of more than Rs. 1 lac crores (~us$14 bn). He believes India provides unlimited opportunity in financial services in India.
During his career, he and his organization have received a number of domestic and international awards including the prestigious CNBC Awaaz Entrepreneur of the year 2020, CNBC Asia's "Innovative company of the year" India Business Leader Awards-2017, "Most Inspirational Leveraged Management Buyout, India 2018" by CFI Awards, "Entrepreneur of the Year" Award at Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards 2017, "Transformational Leader 2018" by CFI Awards UK, "Financial Services Company of the Year, 2018 - VC Circle", "Outstanding contribution to Financial Inclusion, India, 2017" from Capital Finance International, London, "Most Promising Business Leaders of Asia" 2016 by Economic Times, 'Outstanding Entrepreneur Award' in Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards 2016, Greatest Corporate Leaders of India- 2014, Business Today - India's Most Valuable Companies 2016 & 2015, Economic Times 500 India's Future Ready Companies 2016, Fortune India's Next 500 Companies 2016, Dun & Bradstreet India's Top 500 Companies & Corporates 2016 & 2015. During his prior stint, awards included "Best Retail bank in Asia 2001", "Excellence in Retail Banking Award" 2002, "Best Retail Bank in India 2003, 2004, and 2005" from the Asian Banker, "Most Innovative Bank" 2007, "Leaders under 40" from Business Today in 2009, and was nominated "Retail Banker of the Year" by EFMA Europe for 2008.
He is an alumnus of Birla Institute of Technology and Harvard Business School. He has run 23 half-marathons and 8 full marathons.
Mr. V Vaidyanathan, MD & CEO, opines about the prudent and growth-oriented budget for FY25; representing confidence that India’s economy is healthy and growing and how the interim budget continues to build on the strong foundation to sustain the past initiatives.
The conversation between MD & CEO, Mr. V Vaidyanathan and Mr. Sourav Majumdar covers diverse topics including infrastructure financing, role of banks in MSME financing, social financing, new banks, prospects and much more.
The Budget is a blueprint and strong foundation for a New India; takes a long-term view of the economy
February 02, 2023Read More
V. Vaidyanathan is a man with many lives. He can strum the guitar, croon to a track from The Scorpions, and is known for his philanthropy. Amongst all these, he also transformed India’s NBFC space. This is his story.
January 10, 2023Read More
The maturity, sensitivity and discipline of the government and the RBI, coupled with reform, is an enduring capability of India.
January 02, 2023Read More
In CBDC, the core banking will have a one-time debit for currency purchase, but all subsequent transactions, which move from wallet to wallet
November 29, 2022Read More
A reformed tax structure for all businesses will support small enterprises, formalise and boost the economy, and create jobs, IDFC First Bank's V Vaidyanathan writes
January 29, 2021Read More
The banking system raised a staggering ₹1 tn of equity under the current circumstances
December 29, 2020Read More
There are many positives — through video apps, we can call additional participants into a meeting in seconds. We can record meetings for posterity. Meetings can happen any time. Meetings start on time usually.
August 21, 2020Read More
The one that caught the attention was the 10% tax on long term capital gains on equities but this too will be digested and forgotten over time.
February 6, 2018Read More
The BHIM app set a world record by witnessing 18 million downloads within two months of launch.
March 31, 2017Read More
Leadership always has to be seen in a particular context; even leadership for the greatest of leaders, be it Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela, had a context.
March 31, 2017Read More