Shanti Ekambaram, 

She took over as president of the consumer banking division at Kotak Mahindra Bank in April 2014. The division offers a bouquet of secured and unsecured loans to retail customers and small and medium enterprises to finance their working capital needs. While Kotak has been investing heavily in digital banking and has a large collection of apps, Ekambaram believes that bank branches also need to grow. With the ongoing integration of ING Vyasa Bank, which Kotak acquired last year, about 1,400 branches will get added. She believes that physical infrastructure is key to customer acquisition, but a solid digital framework is the way ahead for servicing the needs of the customers. In the past year, she launched a number of apps, including Kotak Bharat, which allows customers to carry out 25 different transactions, including mobile recharge and small value transactions. Then there’s the Social Commerce app, which allows you to pay for books and movie tickets through Twitter; while KayPay allows for transfer of funds to contacts on Facebook, Google, e-mail or telephone. Ekambaram has rich experience in capital markets, corporate banking, and treasury management, having served as the group head of wholesale banking. A chartered accountant by profession, she is a veteran at Kotak—she was the 26th hire in the company.