Citi names Behzad Merchant to steer business execution in India

MUMBAI: Citi is tightening its execution engine in India. The bank has appointed Behzad Merchant as business execution lead for India, with additional oversight for Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, as it sharpens focus on governance, risk and regulatory delivery in a complex market.

Merchant will report to Varittha Prichapanich, business execution lead for Asia South, with a matrix line to K Balasubramanian, chief executive of Citi India and banking head for the Indian subcontinent. His brief spans strategic and business-critical initiatives, regulatory programmes, and efforts to streamline governance while reinforcing the bank’s risk and controls framework.

Balasubramanian says the appointment underlines Citi’s push for disciplined risk management and strong execution across its India franchise. Merchant’s familiarity with Citi and leadership experience, he adds, should help balance growth ambitions with tight operational controls.

Prichapanich describes Merchant as combining operational depth, technology expertise and a risk mindset suited to a fast-changing environment. His regional understanding and execution focus are expected to bolster governance and delivery across the subcontinent.

Merchant brings more than 25 years of experience across banking, operations, technology and controls. He moves into the role from Citi’s Asia South technology controls team, where he worked on key markets including India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Before that, he spent two and a half years at JPMorgan as business risk and controls lead for the payments business in Asia, overseeing regional frameworks and serving as India site lead for global payments risk and controls.

His history with Citi runs deep. Merchant previously spent nearly two decades at the bank in senior roles spanning operations, technology and control functions. A commerce graduate and an alumnus of IIM Bangalore, he blends institutional memory with technical grounding.

For Citi, the message is clear. In an era of tighter rules and thinner margins, execution is strategy. And in India’s high-stakes banking market, the winners will be those who control the risks as tightly as they chase the returns.