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Madhur Bajaj, auto industry stalwart and Bajaj scion, dies at 73
MUMBAI: Madhur Bajaj, non-executive director of Bajaj Auto and a key figure in India’s automobile sector, passed away on Friday morning at Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai. He was 73.
Bajaj, who had been hospitalised due to health complications, suffered a stroke two days ago and succumbed to it around 5 am, company sources confirmed. Further details on the funeral arrangements are awaited.
Born on 19 August 1952, Madhur Bajaj was a driving force behind Bajaj Auto’s growth and played a pivotal role in shaping the auto and finance industries in India. A graduate of Sydenham College, Mumbai, he later earned an MBA from IMD Lausanne, Switzerland.
His career spanned across diverse sectors, from automobiles to consumer durables and financial services. He was the past president of Siam, India’s apex automobile manufacturers’ body, and also led the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA).
Bajaj held senior positions within the Bajaj group, including non-executive vice chairman of Bajaj Auto and chairman of Maharashtra Scooters Ltd. He also served as a director on the boards of Bajaj Holdings, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Electricals, and Bajaj Finance. His contributions to Aurangabad’s industrial and social landscape, including the development of the Kamalnayan Bajaj Hospital and Nath Valley School, remain a lasting legacy.
Beyond corporate boardrooms, Bajaj was a passionate philanthropist. A trustee of the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation, he was deeply involved in rural development and water conservation initiatives. He firmly believed that “the secret of living is giving,” dedicating much of his life to social causes.
Bajaj’s passing marks the end of an era for both the auto industry and Indian business leadership. His vision, influence, and contributions will long be remembered.
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YES Bank appoints S Anantharaman as chief risk officer
Former Jio Financial Services group chief risk officer takes charge of enterprise-wide risk at the embattled private lender
MUMBAI: YES Bank is not taking chances with risk anymore. The private lender has appointed S Anantharaman as its chief risk officer, a hire that signals the bank’s continued effort to rebuild credibility and tighten the controls that once famously slipped.
Anantharaman arrives from Jio Financial Services, where he served as group chief risk officer and built a risk management architecture spanning lending, payments, insurance broking and asset management from the ground up. Before that, he held the chief risk officer role at Bank of Baroda and senior leadership positions at HDFC Bank and L&T Finance Holdings. Three decades in banking and financial services, in other words, with scars and qualifications to match. He is a chartered accountant and a CFA charterholder.
At YES Bank, his brief is considerable. Anantharaman will oversee the bank’s entire enterprise-wide risk framework, covering credit policy, market risk, operational risk, information security, data governance, analytics, model governance and data privacy. It is, in short, every lever that matters when a bank is trying to prove it has grown up.
YES Bank’s turbulent past needs little rehearsing. What it needs now is exactly what Anantharaman has spent thirty years building: the kind of risk culture that stops problems before they become headlines. The appointment suggests the bank knows it.
