PNB Housing Finance appoints Ajai Kumar Shukla as MD & CEO for 5 years; stock rises 5%

PNB Housing Finance appoints Ajai Shukla as MD & CEO.

PNB Housing Finance on Friday said it has appointed Ajai Kumar Shukla as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer for a five-year term, effective December 18 (Thursday).

The announcement was made through a regulatory filing.

Moneycontrol earlier reported that Ajai Shukla was the frontrunner for PNB Housing CEO's role.

Shukla’s appointment comes after the exit of former CEO Girish Kousgi, who resigned on October 28 to take up a leadership role at IIFL Home Finance.

52-year-old Shukla, who brings over 30 years of experience in housing and mortgage finance, currently serves as the chief business officer at Tata Capital Housing Finance. He has been working there for the last 16 years.

He has also headed Credit, Risk, Valuation, Digital Transformation and Affordable Housing Finance in TATA Capital.

In the past, he has also held key positions in the mortgage divisions of ICICI Bank and LIC Housing Finance.

He is an MBA and had started his career with LIC Housing Finance and worked there for 7 years.

His appointment comes at a time when major housing financiers are facing growing competition from banks in the premium-home lending segment. Meanwhile, the affordable-housing market has become increasingly attractive, offering higher yields and benefiting from relatively limited competition.

Shares of PNB Housing Finance gained after the announcement. At around 2:15 p.m., the stock rose 5.35 percent to Rs 948.30 on the National Stock Exchange, marking its sharpest single-day rise since April 11.

(Inputs from Reuters)

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