ZARIN DARUWALA took over the reins of Standard Chartered Bank India in April 2016 after the bank had suffered massive losses in the country and had high gross non-performing assets. In 2023, Standard Chartered India was the third-highest operating income earner in the Standard Chartered Group. Zarin revived the business by de-risking assets, rethinking products and driving retail liquidity, current accounts and high-quality assets. Standard Chartered Bank India was also the most profitable foreign bank in the country with profit after tax of ₹4,621 crore. Zarin Daruwala led the two largest transactions in the Indian private credit space for Shapoorji Pallonji ($1.7 billion) and Vedanta Group ($1.25 billion). Standard Chartered has become the largest global bank in India in trade finance, with onshore assets and contingents of $10 billion-plus and 1.1 million transactions per year. The bank also has the largest share in products such as Letters of Credit advising (13%-plus). In order to push digitisation, Zarin introduced open banking by sharing the bank’s APIs (application programming interface) with developers, corporates and fintechs to co-create digital experiences. India contributes about 75%-plus to the group’s API volumes. — Rajiv Ranjan Singh