Shabnam Sinha to replace Sunil Mittal as Airtel Payments Bank chair

MUMBAI: A new name is about to take the chair at Airtel Payments Bank. Sunil Bharti Mittal is set to step down as Non-Executive Chairman and leave the board of Airtel Payments Bank on 30 September 2026, ending a tenure of more than a decade at the helm.

According to a CNBC TV18 report, the bank has appointed Shabnam Sinha as its next Chairperson for a three-year term beginning 1 October 2026. Her appointment has been approved by the board as well as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Sinha is already an Independent Director at Airtel Payments Bank. She also chairs the board’s Special Committee for Monitoring Frauds and serves on its Risk Management and IT Committees.

Sinha brings more than 30 years of experience across financial services, development finance, public policy and institutional transformation. Her career includes work with the World Bank, where she advised governments and institutions across Asia, Africa and Europe on governance, risk management and operational effectiveness.

Sinha said her focus would be on working with the bank’s leadership and board to build on its existing progress and take the organisation into its next phase of growth.

Mittal took over as Airtel Payments Bank’s Non-Executive Chairman in April 2016, around the time the payments bank was establishing its operations.

The company said the business expanded under his leadership to become India’s largest payments bank by revenue, with operations spanning consumer and enterprise segments.

Mittal described his tenure as chairman as a privilege and expressed confidence in Sinha’s ability to lead the organisation into its next chapter.

The leadership transition comes as Airtel Payments Bank operates at considerable scale, with more than 121 million monthly active users and nearly 30 million bank account customers.

Its services are available through the Airtel Thanks app and a network of more than 500,000 banking points. The company said its physical network reaches three out of four villages in India, while it also identifies itself as the country’s second-largest mobile bank and UPI Autopay player.

Separately, Bharti Airtel’s shares closed at Rs 1,975 on Monday, down 0.86 per cent, or Rs 17.10, from the previous session.

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