PADMAJA CHUNDURU, MD and CEO, National Securities Depository Ltd. (NSDL), started her career as a banker and went on to become one of the leading personalities of the Indian fintech industry. In fact, the rise of stock market-based fintechs is thanks to NSDL, which handles trillion dollars worth of securities.
From leading the merger of Indian Bank with Allahabad Bank during the lockdown, Padmaja’s latest project is a blockchain-based platform for corporate bonds, the first of its kind globally in terms of corporate bond security and permanent monitoring. Under her leadership, NSDL has moved from strength to strength in technology. Within a year of moving to T+1 Settlement, in January 2023, it implemented T+0 (same day settlement), a global first. It is also in the process of rolling out complete client authorisation for all transactions. According to current Sebi norms, client authorisation for transactions such as debiting/ pledging securities happens on the NSDL portal. — Rajiv Ranjan Singh