Axis Bank likely to name Sumit Bali as new head of retail assets

Sumit Bali, who resigned as Chief Executive Officer at IIFL Finance last week, is set to join Axis Bank to head its retail businesses, two people familiar with the matter confirmed to CNBC-TV18.

CNBC-TV18 has written to Axis Bank for a comment on the story. We will update the story once the bank responds.

Bali will replace Pralay Mondal, who recently quit the bank to join CSB Bank as President of Retail and SME operations. The former IIFL Finance executive is expected to join Axis Bank in July as President- Retail Assets, CNBC-TV18 has learnt.

Sumit Bali, prior to his two-year stint as CEO of IIFL Finance, served as Senior Vice President at Kotak Mahindra Bank between 2014 and 2018, where he oversaw consumer banking retail asset products. He also served as the Chief Executive Office of Kotak Mahindra Prime prior to that.

Bali graduated from St Stephens College in Delhi University and went on to get his post-graduate degree from IIM, Ahmedabad. He worked at Glaxo India Limited and Asian Paints before joining Kotak Mahindra Bank, where he spent a large part of his career.

For Axis Bank, retail loans account for 53 percent of its Rs 5.8 lakh crore total loan book and remains the focus area for growth. With the bank conservative on wholesale lending, loan growth has been driven by the retail segment, which grew 24 percent over the previous year for the quarter ending March 2020.

Sumit Bali is set to join the bank amid one of the most challenging times it has ever seen. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with itself the fear of a new tsunami of bad loans, this time led by retail as many fear job losses and salary cuts. As the man in charge of this segment, his task is cut out.