Meet the team

Mr. Hajee Abdoula is the CEO of one of the leading accounting firms in Mauritius. With more than 35 years of professional experience, he also acts as an advisor to many large corporates. His specialisation in transaction services has allowed him to lead large transactions in various sectors, both locally and internationally. Mr. Hajee Abdoula has also been involved in high profile insolvency cases and is one of the leading insolvency practitioners in Mauritius. Mr. Hajee Abdoula has been an advisor for the Government of Ghana in determining the framework for the creation of the Ghana International Financial Services Centre.

Mr. Hajee Abdoula is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (FCA, ICAEW). He is a member of the Mauritius Institute of Professional Accountants and INSOL International, an international association of restructuring and insolvency professionals. He holds an Auditor’s Licence from the Financial Reporting Council of Mauritius, an Insolvency Practitioner’s Licence of Mauritius, and the ICAEW Insolvency and Practicing Licences.

He has also for many years been involved in the global business sector and has acted as Director on various boards of companies and has also advised clients on structuring and tax matters.

Mr. Hajee Abdoula has been a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of Audit Committee of a UK FTSE 100 company at the time of its listing on the UK stock exchange. He is well known for being an innovative and strategic thinker. His extensive professional experience, as well as his broad international exposure, will surely be of value to the Board.

Mr. Hajee Abdoula is an Independent Non-Executive Director and has been appointed as Chairman of SBM Holdings Ltd since 13 March 2020. He is the Chairman of the Board of SBM (NBFC) Holdings Ltd since April 2020.

Mr. Raoul is a seasoned professional, having spent nearly 3 decades in the banking and financial sector.

He started his career as a strategic consultant, restructuring and corporate advisory at PwC in France, East Europe and Africa. He has been exposed to several studies with the World Bank and European Bank Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) on financial institutions in both developed and transitional economies.

Before joining SBM Group, he was the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of a renowned bank in Mauritius (The Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd), as well as a Director on several of its entities across Africa and the Indian Ocean. He has led the transformations of most of its business lines, bringing them to international best standards and aligning them with the new digital, regulatory and compliance international trends. He has also been instrumental in developing a strong knowledge of corporate and investment banking and thus succeeded in growing this franchise on the African continent. He has done his Masters in Economics (specialisation in Finance) and Postgraduate Diploma in International Finance from the University of Paris, France. He is also a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), conferred by the Institute of Internal Auditors, USA and has also undergone Advanced Management Programme from INSEAD, France.

Mrs. Ravi has over 30 years of experience in banking and financial services. Mrs. Ravi was part of the top management team at the State Bank of India. She has held the posts of General Manager, Enterprise Risk Management at the Corporate Office, as Chief Representative, Washington DC USA, and as Deputy General Manager in charge of Chairman's Sect at State Bank of India. Mrs. Ravi joined the State Bank of India as a Probationary Officer and has worked across many functional areas of the Bank. Mrs. Ravi is also Chairperson, National Council on NBFCs of ASSOCHAM (The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India). Mrs Ravi holds directorships in Goodyear India Ltd., Alkem Laboratories Ltd. and Enzene Biosciences Ltd. She is also a Nominee Director in Baroda Medicare Pvt Ltd.

A Science and Law graduate and an avid reader, Mrs. Ravi has a keen interest in Education, with a sharp focus on Education for autistic children.

Mr. Patel has extensive experience in taxation and has spent his past few years focusing on tax matters of FIIs, Banks, Mutual Funds, QFIs and FPIs.

Mr. Patel is a partner at Manohar Chowdhry & Associates - a CA firm. He is a member of the Finance & Taxation Panel of CII's Maharashtra Region and in the past was also a member of the Direct Tax Committee of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He is currently also a member of the Journal Committee, International Tax Committee, Indirect Tax Committee, Technology Initiatives Committee and Chairman of Taxation Committee of Bombay Chartered Accountants' Society (BCAS - which is a voluntary body of CAs, with about 9,000 members from across India).

A past president of the BCAS, he was an elected member of its Managing Committee from 1998-99 to 2010-11, and has held various posts viz. Hon. Treasurer and Hon. Joint Secretary for several years. He headed the organisation in 2009-10 as its President.

He is an independent director and member of the audit committee of LIC Housing Finance Ltd. - one of the largest housing finance companies in the country. He is also a Director in Avtar Instalments Pvt Ltd. He was an independent director of B4U Television Network India Ltd and B4U Broadband India Pvt Ltd. and also the chairman of the audit committees of both these companies.

He has been involved in the activities of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India by being part of the Technical Committee of the WIRC Regional Conference. He is also a member of the Expert Group constituted to suggest changes in the syllabus for IT-related papers of the CA curriculum and has been a regular speaker at various seminars and conferences organised by the ICAI, BCAS, Assocham, CII, private banks, income-tax department's Regional Training Institutes, Rotary Clubs and other bodies.

He is a co-author of several publications of the Bombay Chartered Accountants' Society. His articles have appeared in various magazines and websites such as Money Outlook, MoneyLife, CNBC's moneycontrol.com, Taxsutra, and Journals of the BCAS & ICAI. He has also appeared on several programmes on national television, spoken at international forums, and his views are regularly quoted in newspapers and websites. Moreover, he is very active in various social and professional media networks and has travelled extensively across the world.

Mr. Patel graduated as a Chartered Accountant in 1986 and did his articleship with S.V. Ghatalia& Associates.

Mr. Shyam Sundar Barik is a career central banker with over 30 years of experience in the Reserve Bank of India. He served as Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, Guwahati and RBI Nominee Director on the Board of the Bank of India, and superannuated from the position of Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Department of Banking Regulation, Reserve Bank of India, Central Office. He was a member of the Supervision & Implementation Group (SIG), Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards (NACAS), and various Internal Working Groups of the Reserve Bank of India. He comes with a wide range of experience and expertise inter alia in the areas of regulation and supervision of commercial and urban cooperative banks. He is presently an independent director on the Board of India SME Asset Reconstruction Company (ISARC). Mr. Barik is a Post-Graduate in Economics and CAIIB, Indian Institute of Banking &Finance (IIBF).

Mr. Umesh Jain has more than 25 years of experience in Banking Technology and over 10 years as a CIO / CTO role in BFSI including heading technology at Yes Bank as well as National Stock Exchange of India Limited. He also held leadership positions at Citibank and Barclays. He has proven expertise in leveraging technology to transform businesses through technology. Core capability in working with business to align technology strategy, and hands-on execution by building technology teams, tools and processes. He possesses an in depth understanding of banking especially operations, products, risk, & finance and is also passionate about leveraging technology to drive change through community engagement.

Mr. Amalorpavanathan is ex-Deputy Managing Director of NABARD and has more than 35 years of experience. He has completed a Bachelor of Engineering (Agriculture) from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in 1981 and has done his Post Graduation in Management from IIM, Bangalore and Masters in Development from Asian Institute of Management, Manila. He is specialised in Finance, Development and strategy and participated/headed several National Committees in these areas during his career. He is currently on the Board of Finblend Development Consultants Private Limited. He is also an Expert Member of, Commodity Derivative Advisory Committee, Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

Ms. Ramdenee is an Independent Non-Executive Director at SBM Bank (India) Limited. She is currently the CEO of Agiliss Ltd, one of the leading fast-moving consumer goods companies operating in Mauritius, and also in the region. In Mauritius, Ms. Ramdenee previously held the role of Finance Director of Saint Aubin Group, having also held a commercial and business development role in the organisation. In the UK, she worked for Ernst & Young LLP with a portfolio of high-profile clients located both in United Kingdom and internationally. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young London.

Mr. Ashish Vijayakar is a veteran banker with nearly three decades of rich experience in the banking and financial services sector. He has an extensive background and an impressive track record in building and expanding global businesses while donning leadership roles across various geographies.

As a career banker, Mr. Vijayakar has immense expertise in the domains of business transformation, risk management, innovation, and managing changing business environment processes, among other areas of operations. He places great focus on fostering collaboration, talent development, and upholding the highest standards of integrity and compliance.

Prior to joining the Bank, as Co-Head & MD, Corporate & Institutional Banking at Standard Chartered Bank, India, he demonstrated his ability to navigate complex market dynamics and deliver sustainable results.

Mr. Ashish Vijayakar is a Bachelor of Commerce from Bombay University, CA from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, and an LLB (General) from Bombay University.

Mr. Ashish Vijayakar is a veteran banker with nearly three decades of rich experience in the banking and financial services sector. He has an extensive background and an impressive track record in building and expanding global businesses while donning leadership roles across various geographies.

As a career banker, Mr. Vijayakar has immense expertise in the domains of business transformation, risk management, innovation, and managing changing business environment processes, among other areas of operations. He places great focus on fostering collaboration, talent development, and upholding the highest standards of integrity and compliance.

Prior to joining the Bank, as Co-Head & MD, Corporate & Institutional Banking at Standard Chartered Bank, India, he demonstrated his ability to navigate complex market dynamics and deliver sustainable results.

Mr. Ashish Vijayakar is a Bachelor of Commerce from Bombay University, CA from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, and an LLB (General) from Bombay University.

Mr. Dipak Agarwal is a Qualified Chartered Accountant holding an All-India Rank. He is an experienced professional and seasoned banker having an extensive experience of more than 23 years in the areas of Commercial & Wholesale Banking, Business Development, Corporate Relationship Management, Merchant Banking & Capital Markets, Infrastructure & Project Finance, Investment Banking, Internal Audit, Vigilance, People Management etc.

Prior to joining the Bank, he had spearheaded the North & East Zone for the "Commercial Banking" at Standard Charted Bank as MD & Zonal Head. He had earlier worked with AXIS Bank for over eleven years having led the Corporate Relationship Groups in the North and East Zones and managed all large and mid-corporate relationships across all product segments including Credit, Trade, Treasury, DCM, Investment Banking, CMS.

At the Bank, he has built all services and products’ suites encompassed within Corporate Banking segment and also led the building of the MSME focused services proposition and PSL lending segment by putting in place necessary technology, manpower and expertise led enablers. He is responsible for driving strategy, business planning and performance across Retail Banking, Corporate Banking and Treasury Verticals of the Bank.

Mr. Prashant Kadam is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
He has a proven track record of successfully handling multiple verticals covering Treasury Back office, Trade, and Fx Operations and Service, Taxation, Capital Adequacy Computation & Management, Transaction Banking Services, and Governance.

Having rich experience of 31 years in the Financial Services industry, he has been a member of many core committees and has played an important role in pioneering initiatives like Pre Facto Transaction Based Money Laundering alert.

He was earlier affiliated with Axis Bank where he held Leadership positions across various verticals like Treasury Back office/TxB Service, Control & Governance, and TxB Operations. He was a member of the Core Implementation Team for Basel - II capital norms. Also, he has been instrumental in setting up the Centralised Payment Hub.

Mr. Narendra Patra is a career banker, who brings 37 years of banking experience with Axis Bank and State Bank of India in the domain of Credit, Corporate Banking, Treasury and Risk Management.

Prior to SBM Bank India, he headed multiple risk functions viz, Credit Risk, Operational Risk, Enterprise Risk, Technology Risk, Risk Analytics, Model Risk Governance, Risk Data Management, Product Approval in Axis Bank; prior to that he headed Money Market, ALM, Foreign Currency Bond Issue and FI products as part of Treasury in Axis Bank. Mr Patra joined as a Probationary Officer in SBI. During his stint with SBI, he worked in India and abroad, in leading roles in Treasury, Corporate Banking and Branch Banking. He also served as the Chief Dealer in SBI Frankfurt overseeing the Treasury and Funding activities. He also had a brief stint with a Bank in Bahrain looking after Treasury and Investment functions.

He is an M.Sc (Chemistry) and gold medallist from Utkal University. Professionally, he is an FRM from GARP and CAIIB from the Indian Institute of Bankers.

Mr Patra is a physical enthusiast, Marathoner and takes a keen interest in Yoga and Indian Mythology.

Mr. Mandar Pitale is a certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) charter from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP), New York. He also holds a Certified Treasury Manager (CTM) charter from ACTM affiliated with the International Group of Treasury Associations, UK. He brings with him 24+ years of diversified experience in the areas of Treasury, Asset Liability Management, Interest rate trading & Financial Risk Management. In his previous assignment with IndusInd Bank, he headed the Treasury ALM function based out of Mumbai.

Mr. Sailesh Shah is a banking professional with over 22 years of experience in Finance & Accounts entailing management information reporting, modelling (planning, budgeting, and forecasting), new product approvals, leading projects, process re-engineering initiatives, auditing, taxation and more, across the Banking & Corporate domain.

Having worked with several international banks like Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank, DBS Bank & Rabobank in different roles, he is equipped with expert knowledge in Cost Improvement Initiatives, Profitability Improvement to augment the bottom-line results, Functional Specialisation for Core Banking Solutions & Process Automation.

He is a qualified Chartered Accountant with a Degree in Law.

Ms. Sajitha Pillai has over 19 years of experience in HR and IR in the BFSI sector in Leadership roles. She was earlier associated with UTI Technology Services Ltd and then with Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait as Head of HR. Her 19 years' experience includes setting up business verticals, fostering growth and building scale as a business and strategic partner. She has expertise in Strategic HR, Talent Management, Performance Management, Capacity building, Employee engagement for better productivity and managing change.

Ms Pillai holds a Master’s degree in Science and an MBA in HR.

Mr. Pravin Bhosle has over 25 years of expertise in the financial services industry. He's been with Axis Bank for over 17 years and has held various leadership positions. He formerly worked with Indiabulls Housing Finance as Chief Technology Officer and has a proven track record of successfully leading and managing large technology organisations with operational excellence initiatives, innovation and organisational transformation. He draws on his 360-degree experience in technology and business to develop IT strategies that enable businesses to move faster to market and generate more income in the ever-changing digital ecosystem.

Ms. Smita Nair is a professional with over 20 years of extensive experience in the Internal Audit of banks. Prior to joining SBM Bank, Ms. Smita was associated with Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited in a leadership role. Her previous stints include IndusInd Bank Limited and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. She comes with vast experience in the audit domains of Branch Operations, Retail Liabilities, Retail Advances, Treasury and Risk Management functions.

Ms. Smita is a post-graduate in Commerce and a qualified Cost Accountant. She also holds the CAIIB certification from the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance, which further enhances her expertise in the banking domain.

Mr. Sabyasachi Ganguly is an experienced banking professional with more than 18 years of extensive experience in areas of Retail Banking, AML and the Compliance domain.

He is an alumnus of Executive Education Program of Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta (IIM-C) and is a Management Graduate from the Institute of Rural Management (IRM), Jaipur. He is a ‘Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (CAIIB)’, a ‘Certified Banking Compliance Professional (CBCP)’ from IIBF and ‘Level 3 Certified in Risk in Financial Services’ from Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments (CISI), U.K.

Prior to joining the Bank, he has been associated with AU Small Finance Bank as Senior Vice President-Compliance. He has also worked in other reputed banks such as Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and Utkarsh Small Finance Bank, in various roles.