Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd. is Now SMFG India Credit Co. Ltd.
SMFG India Credit
Our Management Team
Mr. Rajeev Kannan is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of SMFG India Credit Company Limited (Formerly Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd.). He is the Managing Executive Officer and Co-Head of Asia Pacific Division of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) as well as in Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) since April 2022. In his role, Mr. Kannan is responsible for SMBC and SMFG’s business in Asia Pacific Region.
Prior to this role, Mr. Kannan ran the corporate coverage and banking business for Asia Pacific for 2 years and investment banking for the region for 4 years. Mr. Kannan had also spent 4 years in Tokyo covering global structured finance.
Mr. Kannan’s banking career spans nearly 30 years having held various leadership roles with global, regional and product responsibilities. Mr. Kannan has a deep experience in corporate and investment banking, structured finance, principal investments, private credit and infrastructure/ green finance and is a thought leader in this space. Mr. Kannan is also a member of the Board of Directors of Pierfront Capital Mezzanine Fund Pte. Ltd. and ESR Group Limited and also an Advisory Board Member of Singapore Green Finance Center, a partnership between SMU and Imperial College.
Mr. Kannan holds a Master’s degree in Management and Engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani. Mr. Kannan was awarded IBF Distinguished Fellow in 2019 by the Institute of Banking & Finance, Singapore.
Mr. Kannan's email id is [email protected]
Ms. Seema Bahuguna is an Independent Director on the Board of SMFG India Credit Company Limited (Formerly Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd.). She belongs to the 1983 batch of the Indian Administrative Service. She has 36 years of experience working in senior decision-making levels in the Govt. of India and the State Govt. of Rajasthan, where she was involved in formulating and implementing policies, strategies, and programmes. She has more than 14 years of experience working in the fields of Industry, Foreign Trade, Finance and the Public Sector.
As Director of Industries and MD of the Bureau of Industrial Promotion in Rajasthan, she was instrumental in formulating the Industrial Policy of the State Govt. as well as creating customised packages to attract investors into the state. As Additional Director General Foreign Trade in the Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of India, she was associated with launching the first Foreign Trade Policy of the Government of India in 2004. This marked a paradigm shift from a control-based regulatory Import/Export regime to one of Trade Promotion and facilitation.
As Secretary- Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) for about three years, she played a crucial role in formulating the standard financial and HR policies for around 260+ operating Central Public sector Enterprises across a broad spectrum ranging from Petroleum, Coal, Power, Railways, Mines to Defence Production. This provided a great opportunity to understand the problems being faced by the public sector in India and to analyse its relative strength and weakness vis a vis the peers in the private sector. Several novel initiatives were taken during this time to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of these companies to enable them to face the challenges of a modern global environment. Their annual performance appraisal systems were made more result oriented and dynamic by introducing profitability and efficiency standards.
Measures were also taken to enhance the skills of Board level and below Board level employees through different capacity-building initiatives. These systemic improvements enabled DPE, as the nodal department for Public Sector companies, to truly become an enabler in improving their performance. As a member of the Bank Boards Bureau, she was involved in selecting the top management of Public Sector Banks and Insurance Companies like LIC. This experience gave her a unique insight into the working of this crucial sector of the economy.
Ms. Bahuguna is a MA in History from Delhi University and MSc in Development Studies from the University of Bath, UK. She has also undergone specialised training in Sustainable Development, WTO issues, and courses on Ethics and Governance at the University of California, Berkeley and Leadership and Strategic Thinking at the University of Cambridge.
Mr. Diwakar Gupta is an Independent Director on the Board of SMFG India Credit Company Limited (Formerly Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd.). Mr. Gupta has nearly five decades of experience in the financial services industry across the public sector and development banking. He was the Vice President of Private Sector and Public-Private Partnerships at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) from 2015 to 2020. Mr. Gupta oversaw ADB’s assistance to private sector projects at ADB and was responsible for building and maintaining ADB’s public-private partnership operations.
Before ADB, he was the MD & CFO of the State Bank of India. He was responsible for setting strategies and direction alongside other State Bank’s Central Management Committee members. He joined the Bank in 1974 and held several leadership positions at its various units and subsidiaries. He held the position of Deputy Managing Director (National and Rural Banking) and CEO - SBI Card & Payment Services, among others in the Bank. Mr. Gupta has also worked in an advisory capacity with India Value Fund Advisors (IVFA) and Aditya Birla Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. and as an Independent Director on the boards of leading business councils, financial services companies, and other private organizations in India. Mr. Gupta has also been the Senior Advisor (Research) in Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL), promoted by RBI. Currently, he serves as the non-executive Chairman of National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL), promoted by government of India.
He graduated in Physics (Hons) from St. Stephen’s College (Delhi), and holds a Master’s degree in Physics from Delhi University. He is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB).
Mr. C N Ram is an Independent Director on the Board of SMFG India Credit Company Limited (Formerly Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd.). As the MD & CEO of FYDNA Tech Corp Pvt. Ltd. since Feb, 2021, he oversees the development of a modern cloud-native core digital banking platform. He has over 4 decades of experience predominantly in Banks, manufacturing, business process outsourcing and consulting with considerable exposure to strategic planning, data analytics, information security, technology operations, business transformation and ERP implementation. He is also associated with Warburg Pincus India Pvt Ltd since July 2015 as an Advisor, and has worked closely with the RBI on various projects that have had significant impact on the Banking industry.
Mr. Ram has also worked on the Customer Advisory Boards of leading Global firms like Sun Microsystems, NCR, HP and VISA International. He was the Group President & CIO of the Essar group between 2010-13, where he was responsible for mentoring the individual Business CIOs, aligning business and IT, streamlining IT governance, and improving information security. In 2008, Mr. Ram along with 5 others set up a social venture called Rural Shores Business Services that creates job opportunities for educated youth in rural India. He was the 3rd employee at HDFC Bank (14 years) and the first tech employee at Bank of America, India (12 years). HDFC Bank was recognised as one of the most tech-savvy institutions in the country and pioneered many innovative tech-enabled solutions for businesses.
Mr. Ram holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a B. Tech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in Chennai. He has won 3 lifetime achievement awards from leading publications for his stellar work as CIO in multiple companies.
Mr. Balachander Rajaraman is an Independent Director on the Board of SMFG India Credit Company Limited (Formerly Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd.). He has over 30 years of rich, global experience working with large professional services firms and has served as a trusted advisor to senior management, CEOs, and Board/ Audit Committee of companies. He brings in-depth expertise in Corporate Laws & Governance, Taxation, Accounting & Audits, Financial Management & Reporting, Digital Transformation Strategy, Business Process Improvement and Restructuring & IBC.
Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Balachander had been the National Leader for Accounting, Reporting & Compliance at Ernst & Young, until 2019. He was also EY India’s IPO leader and played a key role in the Strategic Growth Markets (SGM) initiative of the firm. Prior to his association with EY, Mr. Balachander was a Partner at Thakur, Vaidyanath Aiyar & Co. (TVA). He was a Management Committee member of the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and has been associated with expert committees at ASSOCHAM and CII.
He is a Commerce Graduate from Delhi University, a Fellow Chartered Accountant, a member of The Indian Institute of Insolvency Professionals of ICAI and has done a Post-graduate Programme in International Management from IMI India.
Ms. Dakshita Das is an experienced bureaucrat having served as an Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) Officer, and as MD & CEO at National Housing Bank.
Ms. Das has over 35 years of experience in the Government as a Civil Servant, including more than 11 years in the Ministry of Finance with a career spanning Infrastructure Financing, Public Finance and the Financial Sector including Insurance and Debt Recovery. She was the Chair of the Working Group constituted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development on Gender Budgeting and is currently a Ministry of Corporate Affairs Nominee on the Disciplinary Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India-Appellate member of the IPA.
She has handled the preparation of over 15 budgets for the central government including the Union budget, budgets for States under President’s rule & the Indian Railways budget. As MD & CEO of the National Housing Bank, she ensured deepening of supervision, tightening of regulations for systemically important companies while ensuring adequate availability of liquidity for the housing finance sector. As Additional Secretary in the Department of Financial Services, Ms. Das handled the charges of insurance and debt recovery and undertook key initiatives such as the first stage disinvestment of LIC.
Ms. Das has deep understanding of the FS sector and has been on several boards including as a government nominee in the Bank of India, NIIF Infrastructure Finance, GIC Re and Actuary Council of India. She is also an eminent speaker on various distinguished panels about Public Policy, Gender and other related matters.
Ms. Das is a graduate from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi and holds an M.Phil. degree on Vietnam Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Mr. Keishi Iwamoto is a Non-Executive Director on the Board of SMFG India Credit Company Limited (Formerly Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd.). Mr. Keishi Iwamoto, Japanese National is presently the Managing Director and Senior General Manager of Global Business Unit and Global Banking Unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Japan. He has been associated with SMBC since April, 1987. Sumitomo Bank merged with Sakura Bank and became Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in April 2001. He has more than 35 years of experience in banking sector handling different roles globally in SMFG and SMBC. Mr. Iwamoto has held other senior positions in SMBC viz., Senior General Manager, Deputy Head of APAC- Singapore, Senior General Manager & Country Head of India based out of New Delhi Branch, General Manager (Financial Solution Dept., Tokyo Japan), & Co - General Manager (Maritime and Aircraft Finance Dept, London UK) among others. Mr. Keishi Iwamoto is a graduate from KEIO University, Tokyo, Japan.
Mr. Shantanu Mitra is the Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of SMFG India Credit Company Limited (Formerly Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd.). He is also the Chairman, Non-Executive Director of SMFG India Home Finance Co. Ltd. (Formerly Fullerton India Home Finance Co. Ltd.).
Mr. Mitra has over 40 years of experience in financial services, with over 20 years at Standard Chartered Bank and Citibank where he had stints in India, Singapore and Thailand. His last role in Standard Chartered Bank was Senior Regional Risk Officer, India, Middle East & Africa, based in Mumbai. His previous experience with SMFG India Credit included a stint from 2010 to 2017, initially as Head of Consumer Risk for the parent company Fullerton Financial Holdings, Singapore and subsequently a very successful tenure as CEO & MD with SMFG India Credit.
He has extensive experience in Risk Management, spanning many geographies in Emerging Markets including Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Mr. Mitra holds a BSc in Statistics from the University of Calcutta, India and is a Member at Institute of Chartered Accountants, England & Wales. Since his previous retirement from SMFG India Credit, Mr. Mitra has served in various Board and Advisory capacities including, Non-Executive Director at DBS Bank, India; and Operating Partner with Global PE firm, Advent International including as Advisor in their portfolio companies.
Ms. Seema Bahuguna is an Independent Director on the Board of SMFG India Credit Company Limited (Formerly Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd.). She belongs to the 1983 batch of the Indian Administrative Service. She has 36 years of experience working in senior decision-making levels in the Govt. of India and the State Govt. of Rajasthan, where she was involved in formulating and implementing policies, strategies, and programmes. She has more than 14 years of experience working in the fields of Industry, Foreign Trade, Finance and the Public Sector.
As Director of Industries and MD of the Bureau of Industrial Promotion in Rajasthan, she was instrumental in formulating the Industrial Policy of the State Govt. as well as creating customised packages to attract investors into the state. As Additional Director General Foreign Trade in the Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of India, she was associated with launching the first Foreign Trade Policy of the Government of India in 2004. This marked a paradigm shift from a control-based regulatory Import/Export regime to one of Trade Promotion and facilitation.
As Secretary- Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) for about three years, she played a crucial role in formulating the standard financial and HR policies for around 260+ operating Central Public sector Enterprises across a broad spectrum ranging from Petroleum, Coal, Power, Railways, Mines to Defence Production. This provided a great opportunity to understand the problems being faced by the public sector in India and to analyse its relative strength and weakness vis a vis the peers in the private sector. Several novel initiatives were taken during this time to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of these companies to enable them to face the challenges of a modern global environment. Their annual performance appraisal systems were made more result oriented and dynamic by introducing profitability and efficiency standards.
Measures were also taken to enhance the skills of Board level and below Board level employees through different capacity-building initiatives. These systemic improvements enabled DPE, as the nodal department for Public Sector companies, to truly become an enabler in improving their performance. As a member of the Bank Boards Bureau, she was involved in selecting the top management of Public Sector Banks and Insurance Companies like LIC. This experience gave her a unique insight into the working of this crucial sector of the economy.
Ms. Bahuguna is a MA in History from Delhi University and MSc in Development Studies from the University of Bath, UK. She has also undergone specialised training in Sustainable Development, WTO issues, and courses on Ethics and Governance at the University of California, Berkeley and Leadership and Strategic Thinking at the University of Cambridge.
Mr. Diwakar Gupta is an Independent Director on the Board of SMFG India Credit Company Limited (Formerly Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd.). Mr. Gupta has nearly five decades of experience in the financial services industry across the public sector and development banking. He was the Vice President of Private Sector and Public-Private Partnerships at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) from 2015 to 2020. Mr. Gupta oversaw ADB’s assistance to private sector projects at ADB and was responsible for building and maintaining ADB’s public-private partnership operations.
Before ADB, he was the MD & CFO of the State Bank of India. He was responsible for setting strategies and direction alongside other State Bank’s Central Management Committee members. He joined the Bank in 1974 and held several leadership positions at its various units and subsidiaries. He held the position of Deputy Managing Director (National and Rural Banking) and CEO - SBI Card & Payment Services, among others in the Bank. Mr. Gupta has also worked in an advisory capacity with India Value Fund Advisors (IVFA) and Aditya Birla Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. and as an Independent Director on the boards of leading business councils, financial services companies, and other private organizations in India. Mr. Gupta has also been the Senior Advisor (Research) in Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL), promoted by RBI. Currently, he serves as the non-executive Chairman of National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL), promoted by government of India.
He graduated in Physics (Hons) from St. Stephen’s College (Delhi), and holds a Master’s degree in Physics from Delhi University. He is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB).
Mr. C N Ram is an Independent Director on the Board of SMFG India Credit Company Limited (Formerly Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd.). As the MD & CEO of FYDNA Tech Corp Pvt. Ltd. since Feb, 2021, he oversees the development of a modern cloud-native core digital banking platform. He has over 4 decades of experience predominantly in Banks, manufacturing, business process outsourcing and consulting with considerable exposure to strategic planning, data analytics, information security, technology operations, business transformation and ERP implementation. He is also associated with Warburg Pincus India Pvt Ltd since July 2015 as an Advisor, and has worked closely with the RBI on various projects that have had significant impact on the Banking industry.
Mr. Ram has also worked on the Customer Advisory Boards of leading Global firms like Sun Microsystems, NCR, HP and VISA International. He was the Group President & CIO of the Essar group between 2010-13, where he was responsible for mentoring the individual Business CIOs, aligning business and IT, streamlining IT governance, and improving information security. In 2008, Mr. Ram along with 5 others set up a social venture called Rural Shores Business Services that creates job opportunities for educated youth in rural India. He was the 3rd employee at HDFC Bank (14 years) and the first tech employee at Bank of America, India (12 years). HDFC Bank was recognised as one of the most tech-savvy institutions in the country and pioneered many innovative tech-enabled solutions for businesses.
Mr. Ram holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a B. Tech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in Chennai. He has won 3 lifetime achievement awards from leading publications for his stellar work as CIO in multiple companies.
Mr. Balachander Rajaraman is an Independent Director on the Board of SMFG India Credit Company Limited (Formerly Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd.). He has over 30 years of rich, global experience working with large professional services firms and has served as a trusted advisor to senior management, CEOs, and Board/ Audit Committee of companies. He brings in-depth expertise in Corporate Laws & Governance, Taxation, Accounting & Audits, Financial Management & Reporting, Digital Transformation Strategy, Business Process Improvement and Restructuring & IBC.
Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Balachander had been the National Leader for Accounting, Reporting & Compliance at Ernst & Young, until 2019. He was also EY India’s IPO leader and played a key role in the Strategic Growth Markets (SGM) initiative of the firm. Prior to his association with EY, Mr. Balachander was a Partner at Thakur, Vaidyanath Aiyar & Co. (TVA). He was a Management Committee member of the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and has been associated with expert committees at ASSOCHAM and CII.
He is a Commerce Graduate from Delhi University, a Fellow Chartered Accountant, a member of The Indian Institute of Insolvency Professionals of ICAI and has done a Post-graduate Programme in International Management from IMI India.
Ms. Dakshita Das is an experienced bureaucrat having served as an Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) Officer, and as MD & CEO at National Housing Bank.
Ms. Das has over 35 years of experience in the Government as a Civil Servant, including more than 11 years in the Ministry of Finance with a career spanning Infrastructure Financing, Public Finance and the Financial Sector including Insurance and Debt Recovery. She was the Chair of the Working Group constituted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development on Gender Budgeting and is currently a Ministry of Corporate Affairs Nominee on the Disciplinary Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India-Appellate member of the IPA.
She has handled the preparation of over 15 budgets for the central government including the Union budget, budgets for States under President’s rule & the Indian Railways budget. As MD & CEO of the National Housing Bank, she ensured deepening of supervision, tightening of regulations for systemically important companies while ensuring adequate availability of liquidity for the housing finance sector. As Additional Secretary in the Department of Financial Services, Ms. Das handled the charges of insurance and debt recovery and undertook key initiatives such as the first stage disinvestment of LIC.
Ms. Das has deep understanding of the FS sector and has been on several boards including as a government nominee in the Bank of India, NIIF Infrastructure Finance, GIC Re and Actuary Council of India. She is also an eminent speaker on various distinguished panels about Public Policy, Gender and other related matters.
Ms. Das is a graduate from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi and holds an M.Phil. degree on Vietnam Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Mr. Keishi Iwamoto is a Non-Executive Director on the Board of SMFG India Credit Company Limited (Formerly Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd.). Mr. Keishi Iwamoto, Japanese National is presently the Managing Director and Senior General Manager of Global Business Unit and Global Banking Unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Japan. He has been associated with SMBC since April, 1987. Sumitomo Bank merged with Sakura Bank and became Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in April 2001. He has more than 35 years of experience in banking sector handling different roles globally in SMFG and SMBC. Mr. Iwamoto has held other senior positions in SMBC viz., Senior General Manager, Deputy Head of APAC- Singapore, Senior General Manager & Country Head of India based out of New Delhi Branch, General Manager (Financial Solution Dept., Tokyo Japan), & Co - General Manager (Maritime and Aircraft Finance Dept, London UK) among others. Mr. Keishi Iwamoto is a graduate from KEIO University, Tokyo, Japan.
Mr. Shantanu Mitra is the Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of SMFG India Credit Company Limited (Formerly Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd.). He is also the Chairman, Non-Executive Director of SMFG India Home Finance Co. Ltd. (Formerly Fullerton India Home Finance Co. Ltd.).
Mr. Mitra has over 40 years of experience in financial services, with over 20 years at Standard Chartered Bank and Citibank where he had stints in India, Singapore and Thailand. His last role in Standard Chartered Bank was Senior Regional Risk Officer, India, Middle East & Africa, based in Mumbai. His previous experience with SMFG India Credit included a stint from 2010 to 2017, initially as Head of Consumer Risk for the parent company Fullerton Financial Holdings, Singapore and subsequently a very successful tenure as CEO & MD with SMFG India Credit.
He has extensive experience in Risk Management, spanning many geographies in Emerging Markets including Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Mr. Mitra holds a BSc in Statistics from the University of Calcutta, India and is a Member at Institute of Chartered Accountants, England & Wales. Since his previous retirement from SMFG India Credit, Mr. Mitra has served in various Board and Advisory capacities including, Non-Executive Director at DBS Bank, India; and Operating Partner with Global PE firm, Advent International including as Advisor in their portfolio companies.
Ms. Seema Bahuguna is an Independent Director on the Board of SMFG India Credit Company Limited (Formerly Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd.). She belongs to the 1983 batch of the Indian Administrative Service. She has 36 years of experience working in senior decision-making levels in the Govt. of India and the State Govt. of Rajasthan, where she was involved in formulating and implementing policies, strategies, and programmes. She has more than 14 years of experience working in the fields of Industry, Foreign Trade, Finance and the Public Sector.
As Director of Industries and MD of the Bureau of Industrial Promotion in Rajasthan, she was instrumental in formulating the Industrial Policy of the State Govt. as well as creating customised packages to attract investors into the state. As Additional Director General Foreign Trade in the Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of India, she was associated with launching the first Foreign Trade Policy of the Government of India in 2004. This marked a paradigm shift from a control-based regulatory Import/Export regime to one of Trade Promotion and facilitation.
As Secretary- Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) for about three years, she played a crucial role in formulating the standard financial and HR policies for around 260+ operating Central Public sector Enterprises across a broad spectrum ranging from Petroleum, Coal, Power, Railways, Mines to Defence Production. This provided a great opportunity to understand the problems being faced by the public sector in India and to analyse its relative strength and weakness vis a vis the peers in the private sector. Several novel initiatives were taken during this time to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of these companies to enable them to face the challenges of a modern global environment. Their annual performance appraisal systems were made more result oriented and dynamic by introducing profitability and efficiency standards.
Measures were also taken to enhance the skills of Board level and below Board level employees through different capacity-building initiatives. These systemic improvements enabled DPE, as the nodal department for Public Sector companies, to truly become an enabler in improving their performance. As a member of the Bank Boards Bureau, she was involved in selecting the top management of Public Sector Banks and Insurance Companies like LIC. This experience gave her a unique insight into the working of this crucial sector of the economy.
Ms. Bahuguna is a MA in History from Delhi University and MSc in Development Studies from the University of Bath, UK. She has also undergone specialised training in Sustainable Development, WTO issues, and courses on Ethics and Governance at the University of California, Berkeley and Leadership and Strategic Thinking at the University of Cambridge.