Amitabh Chaudhry to join Axis Bank on Nov 19 for smooth transition of top management

In addition, the private bank’s Deputy MD V Srinivasan will not seek an extension after his three-year term ends in December, Sharma confirmed in the post-financial results press conference.

Srinivasan led the markets and corporate banking at Axis Bank.

Srinivasan has not revealed the reasons for not extending his contract and also where he is headed. The second in command to Sharma for the last three years, he joined Axis Bank in 2009 after Sharma became the CEO succeeding PJ Nayak.

Sharma said, “There is a leadership transition happening in the bank and I think from a succession point of view, we should have an orderly transition as Amitabh hopefully will join Nov 19. There will be some handover time before I step down on December 31. I think we have made good progress on that front as well.

On the leadership and growth trajectory, she said the bank has built an enormous amount of capability across different parts of business over the years.

“Yes, we have had hiccups on corporate credit side just as any other lender who has participated in that. I would argue that even within that segment, our credit experience has been better than that of average corporate credit bank. But nevertheless, we have learnt our lessons from that, we have tightened our risk infrastructure,” Sharma said.

All of that capability resides in the organisation both in terms of people and processes and systems, Sharma added.

"Srini and I are both responsible leaders who want to make sure that that capability becomes an organisational capability and that will very much remain part of the Axis franchise. People come and go, but I think institutions last much longer if they are built right," she concluded.