Hyderabad Chapter : Value addition of $3 bn, CEO of RBL Bank Shares his Journey

Hyderabad, 20^th January, 2018

Amidst the understated elegance of Cyber Convention Centre, Hyderabad, the CEO of RBL Bank Limited, Mr. Vishwavir Ahuja (class of 1981) shared with the alumni of the Hyderabad Chapter, the transformation of Ratnakar Bank Limited, worth Rs. 471 crore in October 2010, into one of the ten most valuable banks in India, with a market cap in excess of Rs. 22,000 crore in April 2017. He was there in the city to deliver the 6^th Ravi Matthai Memorial lecture organized by the IIMA Alumni Association, Hyderabad Chapter.

Earlier President of the Chapter, Mr. Ram Kaundinya (class of 1979) welcomed the speaker and the audience of nearly 200, and explained the activities of the chapter, which conducts monthly get together meetings, Synchrony and the Ravi Matthai Memorial Lecture (RMML), part from running a school for the underprivileged. The RMML, instituted in the memory of Prof. Ravi J Matthai has transformed into a flagship event, after it was started as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Institute organized in Hyderabad by the Chapter. The past speakers, all alumni of IIMA (though that is not an explicit charter), are Mr. PD Rai, Member of Parliament from Sikkim, Ms Mallika Sarabhai, Mr KV Kamath (ICICI Bank), Mr Sanjeev Bikchandan (Naukri.com) and Mr Bhaskar Bhatt (Titan).

The main event of the day was the lecture of Mr. Ahuja on his entrepreneurial journey, starting at 50. In the first half of his career, he was a very successful banker, becoming head of Bank of America in India by 40. By the time he was 49 he developed an urge to do something on his own – in his country and he resigned. Along with five others (mostly IIMA alumni), he worked on starting a bank. In 2010, he bought a small bank in Kolhapur which was on the verge of closure by investing all his savings. Then, years of hard work, high integrity (no bribes, ever) and sound strategy (almost all employees are shareholders) resulted in spectacular results, with RBL Bank Ltd. becoming one of the top ten banks in India in terms of market capitalization. Mr. Ahuja’s speech was very engaging, as he spoke less about figures, and more from his heart. The speech exceeded the allotted time and yet, the audience was left asking for more. Post event, during dinner and cocktails, the alumni continued the discussion of RBL’s journey, both with Mr. Ahuja and amongst themselves. One of the alumni, Mr. T. Muralidharan, Chairman, TMI Group was so impressed with the speech of his friend, “Vish” and the response to his speech, that he wrote a poem – on the back of a napkin.

After the lecture, Prof. Rakesh Basant, Dean, Alumni Affairs, addressed the gathering and explained the efforts being taken by the Institute to reach out to society and alumni in general. He appreciated the vibrancy and activities of the Hyderabad Chapter, which include running a school, Udbhav, for 635 underprivileged children, whose children presented a skit and a dance at the beginning of the event.

Late into the night, entrepreneurship remained the topic of discussion with two 2016 batch entrepreneurs heard discussing their start-ups with former President of the Chapter; with others reminiscing about a former Hyderabad alumnus founding and exiting Taxi For Sure; and another table describing the Soft Bank style of investing. The event, where alumni and their families interacted with each other and the special invitees (business leaders of Hyderabad), continued the tradition of the Hyderabad chapter organizing well-organized events.