Profile of Board of Directors
Mr. Bhaskar Jyoti Sarma
Independent Director
Mr. Bhaskar Jyoti Sarma, a retired Chief General Manager of State Bank of India, has around of 36 years’ experience in Banking having worked in different capacities in Line and Staff positions at all levels including the Top Executive grade. He has held a variety of assignments during his tenure in SBI and has served in different locations in India and abroad (including a tenure in SBI's branch at Chicago, USA). He has extensive and in-depth ground level experience in Financial Inclusion initiatives in the under-banked and unbanked areas of North East having been the General Manager in SBI's NE Circle covering the states of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura. He was also the MD & CEO of SBI General Insurance Co. Ltd a JV between State Bank of India and IAG, Australia (the largest General Insurance company of Australia with operations extending to parts of SE Asia)..
Ms. Rupali Kalita
Managing Director & CEO
Ms. Kalita is an experienced development banker with an experience of over 33 years in the Banking and Financial Services sector. She has 20 years of experience in Retail Banking in Langpi Dehangi Rural Bank during her tenure as Senior Manager in the bank. Ms. Kalita, has to her credit, a degree from Boulder Institute of Microfinance, Turin, Italy besides various other certifications from different institutions. She has been trained in Microfinance from Basix and have exposures to ASA, BRAC premier institutions in Bangladesh and in Amana Ikhtiar, Malaysia, Bank Patanian and Bank Simpanan, Malaysia, to name a few. She has also attended a certificate course on Strategic Leadership in Financial Inclusion in HARVARD, USA in March 2016.
Ms. Kalita joined the RGVN Society to head its microfinance programme in 2004 and was instrumental in successfully turning around the operations of a loss making RGVN-CSP into a profitable NBFC within a period of 2 years by streamlining the existing processes, instilling financial discipline and boosting the staff morale. She was instrumental in reducing the Portfolio at Risk (>30days) from a whopping 23% to 1.09% in FY 2016-2017 and also in reaching out to a total of 4.07 Lakh clients during the same period as against 30,939 in 2004. The expansion of outreach of the RGVN (NE) MFL to 7 states of North East and West Bengal, with a network of 139 branches in 2017 and the consistent growth in the business with a total portfolio outstanding of Rs. 688 crore as on March 31st, 2017 as against Rs. 40 Lakh in 2005, has only been possible for her able leadership. She has been working for the empowerment of the under privileged women in rural and urban sector through financial intermediation by persistently encouraging them to build up their confidence and to emerge as successful entrepreneurs.
She has been heading RGVN (NE) MFL since its inception, however recently has moved to North East Small Finance Bank Limited [“Subsidiary of RGVN (NE) MFL”] as a Managing Director & CEO to lead the Small Finance bank Business.
It is under her guidance and due to her persistent efforts that RGVN (NE) MFL was awarded the coveted “In Principle Approval” on September 16, 2015 for the establishment of Small Finance Bank. It is by dint of her hard work and dedication that RGVN (NE) MFL, had undergone major transformations within a decade and has awarded with the Final Banking Licence on March 31, 2017 and has commenced its Banking Business on October 17, 2017 by folding its lending activities into NORTH EAST SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED.
Mr. Deep Chandra Joshi
Independent Director
Mr. Joshi, recipient of Magsaysay award in 2009 and Padma shri in 2010 is an independent development consultant and part-time CEO of a Charitable Trust. He is the co-founder of PRADAN, a renowned national NGO, where he worked as an Executive Director. He was also the Director HR and Director Finance for over two decades until his retirement in 2007. He had worked as a Program Officer in the Ford Foundation in Delhi; as a Senior Systems Analyst in Systems Research Institute in Pune; and as a Lecturer of Mechanical Engineering at MNNIT Allahabad.He took his engineering degree MNNIT Allahabad and also hold Master Degree in Engineering from MIT and another on Management from Solan School MIT. Mr. Joshi is the Chairman of the Institute of Rural Management Anand, the National Foundation for India and the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute for Youth Development and serves on the boards of IIM Kashipur and several other development NGOs.
Mr. Joshi has an extensive experience of SHGs and was associated with the SHG-Bank Linkage Program in the course of his work in PRADAN. He is one of the Promoter Directors of Bhartiya Samruddhi Investments and Consulting Services Limited (BASICS). He has served as a Director of Microfinance NBFCs and as Chairman of a Local Area Bank. Mr. Joshi has over 30 years’ experience of rural development, especially in rural livelihood promotion. He had conducted extensive field work in the course of reviewing development projects (NERCORMP and MLIPH) financed by the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) in Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur States on a yearly basis since 2011 and had conducted extensive fieldwork in the course of designing a Rural Livelihoods Project for Meghalaya being financed by IFAD.
Mr. Ranjit Goswami
Independent Director
Mr. Goswami had joined SBI as Probationary Officer in 1975 and had retired in 2014 as CGM [HR] from the SBI Corporate Centre in Mumbai. He has worked in wide range of assignments covering entire gamut of banking operations in different parts of India and also abroad. His critical areas where he has gained expertise include Treasury, Credit Dept., Rural Development, Banking Operations, HR and Inspection.
Mr. Gautam Barua
Independent Director
Gautam Barua is currently the Director of Indian Institute of Information Technology Guwahati and Professor of Computer Science and Engineering. He was the Director IIT Guwahati from 2003 till 2013 and is currently on deputation from there. He was also the officiating Director of NIT Silchar during 2003-2005, and the Mentor Director of IIT Patna in 2008-09. He was at IIT Kanpur from 1982 till 1995. He graduated from IIT Bombay with B.Tech and M.Tech degrees in Electrical Engineering. He obtained a PhD degree in Computer Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA in 1981. His areas of interest are Operating Systems and Networks. He is an IT consultant to the Govt. of Assam and to a number of public enterprises.
Ms. Sutapa Banerjee
Independent Director
Sutapa Banerjee has spent 24 years in the financial services industry across 2 large multinational banks and a boutique Indian Investment bank, building and heading several businesses. A well recognized thought leader in the Wealth Management space having successfully built the Private Wealth businesses in 2 organizations Sutapa has received accolades both within the country and internationally including being amongst the ‘Top 20 Global Rising Stars of Wealth Management’ (Institutional Investor Group in 2007). In 2012 she was shortlisted in the ’50 most Powerful Women’ by Fortune India.
Currently she serves as an Independent Director on the boards of several companies in the JSW, IL&FS, Women’s World Banking Groups and Oxfam India among others. She is a Visiting Faculty with IIM Ahmedabad co-creating and co-teaching an elective titled ‘A Gender Lens on Corporate Policies’ - a first for any business school anywhere She also works as a Business Coach for senior leadership talent and consults in the Wealth and Investments area for the Gerson Lehrman Group.
Sutapa is an Advanced Leadership Fellow (2015) at Harvard University. Her study was on Cognitive Errors and Biases in Decision-making and its applications on Corporate Policies and Practices. She teaches, trains, writes and speaks actively on the subject both internationally and within India.. A member of the CII National Committee on Integrity and Transparency in Governance, she also serves on the Advisory Panel of the ‘India Responsible Business Forum.
Mr. Robert Dunn
Nominee Director (Dia Vikas)
Robert Dunn has been the Chief Executive Officer and Director of Opportunity International Australia since August 2008, having joined the organisation in November 2006 as Chief Financial Officer. Robert is also a Director of Opportunity’s Indian subsidiary, Dia Vikas Capital, which manages the provision of microfinance services in India. Since 2008 Dia Vikas has invested or lent to local microfinance institutions who serve over 3 million clients in India.
Part of a global network, Opportunity has programs in more than 20 of the world’s poorest countries. Using innovative financial solutions and training, it empowers people living in poverty to transform their lives.
Robert serves on the Boards of the Port Authority of New South Wales and Logosdor Limited. Prior to joining Opportunity, Robert was the Finance Director with Patrick Corporation for 14 years. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.
Mr. Njord Andrewes
Nominee Director (NMI)
Njord Andrewes is Investment Director in NMI. Prior to joining NMI, Mr. Andrewes was a Senior Equity Research Analyst at Lazard Capital Markets. Before Lazard, Mr. Andrewes was an Equity Research Analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott, LLC. He began his career at Robertson Stephens in Sales and Trading. Mr. Andrewes received an MBA in Finance from Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, and a B.A. in Economics from Hope College.
Mr. Manish Purshottam Thakkar
Nominee Director (RNT Associates Pvt Ltd.)
Mr. Manish has more than 23 years of experience in financial services, specializing in investment banking, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, deal negotiation and transaction structuring. After more 17 years in investment banking with KPMG Corporate Finance, ICICI Securities and Nomura, he turned entrepreneur and angel investor. Manish has expertise in financial services and investment banking space and has advised corporations, investors and governments on several transactions over the years. Manish is currently working with Avanti Finance a FinTech start-up promoted by Mr Ratan N Tata and Mr. Nandan Nilekani. Manish is a commerce graduate and a Chartered Accountant.
