EY Leadership Unscripted – Leadership conversation series with industry pioneers in financial services

Leadership Unscripted | Conversations with pioneers in Financial Services

Welcome to Leadership Unscripted—where we go beyond the balance sheets and boardrooms and open the doors to conversations with leaders in the financial services sector in India —unfiltered, honest and deeply inspiring. In this multi-video talk series, Pratik Shah, Partner and National Leader – Financial Services at EY India, engages in candid, unscripted leadership conversations with the industry leaders. So, whether you are leading a team or just starting out, this leadership talk series is for you. It is about growing, listening, and leading with purpose—together.

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Episode 1: In this episode Sudipta Roy, Managing Director and CEO of L&T Finance shares his journey of leadership, emphasizing the importance of patience and persistence. He discusses his passion for wildlife photography, and experiences from his diverse career in FMCG, Citi, Deutsche Bank, and ICICI Bank. The episode also explores L&T Finance's approach to balancing urban and rural lending, the future of financial services as it evolves to cater to Gen Z customers and the transformative role of technology and AI in the industry. While the principles of financial services will remain the same, the delivery mechanisms are becoming completely technology-driven, seamless, and invisible.

Episode 1

Pratik Shah, Partner and National Leader Financial Services, EY India in conversation with Sudipta Roy, Managing Director and CEO, L&T Finance.

Pratik Shah: Leadership. It is more than just a title. It is a journey shaped by decisions, fueled by experiences, and defined by stories. And some of the most powerful stories are the ones you have not heard, just yet. The stories are real, the insights game changing, and the leaders, they are right here. I am excited. Welcome to Leadership. Today, I am happy to host Mr. Sudipta Roy, MD & CEO L&T Finance. Welcome, Mr. Roy. Thank you so much for spending time with us.

Sudipta Roy: Thank you.

Pratik Shah: Thank you for giving us the opportunity to delve into what makes Sudipta tick. How do you start your day? Any habits that you have to start your day?

Sudipta Roy: The first thing that I do even before I get out of bed is to check how well I have slept last night. I sleep with my Apple watch and I track my sleep every day in the morning. That is the first thing that I do. Typically, I try to be in office between 8.45 a.m. to 9.00 a.m.. That is when the day starts. It is good to hit the office a little early because you catch up on your emails before other people come in. You get that 45-minute window to catch up and clear your emails and gather your thoughts for the meetings. Typically, my meetings on most days start from 9:00 a.m..

Pratik Shah: Do you sleep well?

Sudipta Roy: I really did not realize it earlier, but for about four or five years, I really struggled with sleep. I recommend everyone to read this book called ‘Why We Sleep’ by Matthew Walker. He is probably one of the preeminent sleep scientists. We do not realize that sleep is the best form of exercise. I am now very careful about my sleep. I make sure that I get that six-and-a-half to seven hours, no matter.

Pratik Shah: I know that you spend a lot of time on your hobby, but I really want the viewers to know more about your passion towards wildlife photography. Since you are from IIT, I thought that was a young Farhan Qureshi of ‘3 Idiots’ in the making. Tell us about your passion.

Sudipta: It has been about 15 years now that I have been investing majority of my free time in learning the craft. Photography as a craft is extremely complex. It is a very complex science and wildlife photography as a genre is probably the most difficult genre of photography because your subject is not in your control. In one instance, in 2019, I sat for five hours in 40 degrees centigrade sun, from about 1:30 p.m. to about 6:30 p.m. five hours non-stop for one particular shot.

Pratik: Do you think you bring a lot of this to work? Patience, persistence.

Sudipta: Yes, some part of that comes to work. First is focus and persistence. When you are doing photography and when you are tracking, for example, a tiger, you are very focused on the task. And you probably will spend next two hours, even if the tiger is walking, standing there, waiting for it to move. It is burst of action, followed by long pauses. That teaches you patience, that teaches you to remain focused on the task despite the high test in between. In a way, a part of that comes to work where we are, very, very focused on what we do. But at the end of the day, we also must be patient. Sometimes good things take time. I will give you a small example. We started building our new software in-house. We call it Cyclops. It is a new three-dimensional credit engine. Probably one of its kind in the country now. I gave the team about four months to build and the team actually built it in four months, but the scaling up took a lot of time.

Pratik: I think a lot of younger folks need to listen to this about being patient.

Sudipta: You have to be patient. Patience is one of the big unsung virtues of leadership. Results are not instant coffee. Organization transformation is not instant coffee. People development does not happen overnight. It is a gradual slow process. So, leaders have to be patient (while) still keeping focus on the end result.

Pratik If you walk back through your journey, between Citi and Deutsche Bank, you spent 10 to 12-plus years at ICICI. If you reflect back on this journey and where you are today, what couple of incidents or learnings that make you who you are today?

Sudipta: I started my career with FMCG. FMCG rips away your ego. And I will give you a story. I was in Colgate and about five or six days into the company, I was sent after the initial session, to then Calcutta from where I was promptly dispatched to Siliguri, where I went with the salesman trying to go shop to shop, trying to sell toothpaste. There was one middle-aged gentleman who was sitting in the shop, obviously Bengali. He asked me, in Bengali, that you look like a person from a respectable family. What are you doing selling toothpaste?

Pratik: Tell us in Bengali.

Sudipta: I said, yes, I am from a respectable family. And then he said, what have you studied? I said I have studied Chemical Engineering in IIT Kharagpur and then went on to do my MBA from XLRI. The man was stunned. So, what any FMCG stint does is actually chip away all your ego. And it teaches you a lot of discipline also. Initial grounding was very hard. And I was transferred from Siliguri to Guwahati. And Guwahati was a disturbed area. It was again a great experience working there.

From Colgate, in 2000, I shifted to Citi cards. I stayed in Citi for almost six years, six-and-a-half years. Citi was a great learning ground because what it did was that it gave you a lot of freedom to do things and, you know, sort of fail and break. And so that is where I learned the ropes of banking and then came to Deutsche Bank. I always say that if Citi taught me, the initial ropes of banking and how to do distribution, etc., Deutsche Bank taught me compliance, control, structure, processes. They have a German way of working. While in Deutsche Bank, I started managing parts of the business in India and China. It started giving me a cross-culture view. I had to manage a team in India and manage a team in China. The leadership style in China is completely different from the leadership style in India. Here, you have the ‘argumentative Indian’. In China, you have the compliant execution-focused Chinese. You have to really switch your management style. And that is why, it is also very important that there is no one single management style. Every situation demands a different management style.

At the end of the global financial crisis, Deutsche decided to play down their retail asset portfolio in the country. So, I landed in ICICI Bank in 2010. In Citi, I was a part of a well-run business. In Deutsche Bank, I set up the business from scratch, so amazing learning. When I joined, ICICI Bank post-2010 was in a need of a rebuild. And trust me, it's easy to work in a well-run business. It is relatively easier to start a business from scratch. But to fix a business that has gone through some trouble is the toughest of all. The 12 years I spent in ICICI bank was a learning scale. ICICI Bank teaches you scale. Overall, I would say each of the organizations that I worked in - Colgate, Citi, ICICI, big names in themselves - each of them has played a very formative part in my leadership journey, and I am grateful to all of them.

Pratik: I am sure. And as they say, crisis creates leaders. Being part of some of these crises, building businesses, changing from where you were in ICICI, it just allows you to think. You have seen a lot. What more can happen, what bad can happen. You sort of build from there. From that journey to now, really lending to the real Bharat is again a very interesting pivot that you are making. And I am very excited because again, I believe if we fast forward the next five years, growth is in the real part that we are lending to. Tell us about how you are thinking about lending to the Bharat of our times.

Sudipta: At L&T Finance as an organization, we have that unique sort of asset profile where we are 50% rural, 50% urban. Though in my previous jobs I have mostly managed urban portfolios, and this is probably the first time handling (at) scale rural portfolios. But you know, at the bottom, fundamentals of lending remain the same. The customer is a little different. We are one of the largest in microfinance in the country. After coming to L&T Finance, I have had the chance of traveling extensively in rural India. And when you travel in rural India, there are two things that hit you very starkly. South India is probably 10 years ahead of Northeast India. What we are trying to do is that we have a lot of customers who are women. And most of these women customers, especially on the microfinance side, have been making a journey with us. They probably started small with INR35,000 loan and then repaid and then took another loan and are now probably in the fourth cycle. Many of them do smalls businesses. They may have some kirana shops somewhere, some animal husbandry, and maybe a vegetable shop somewhere, etc. We have seen some of those women grow along with us. What we are trying to do right now is launch products that are probably a little high in ticket size and help them in their particular growth journey as well.

It is very important to note that you also have to be a very, very responsible lender in rural areas. Because rural areas in by nature are very credit hungry. Given a credit tab, if you turn on the tab very fast, leverage builds fast, clearly because a large proportion of them are sophisticated borrowers. And given the fact that there is always a little bit gap between what is needed and what is available in rural areas, there is always that gap of liquidity, which they are trying to plug through borrowing.

It is also very important for us to be a responsible lender. What we are trying to do is now bring products and services which give them that required liquidity push or that liquidity in their hands, while on the other hand, balancing the risk reward equation. Just to make sure that they are not getting indebted too much. That is what we are trying to do. And if you see our performance, especially in the last year, when the microfinance industry went through a little bit of an asset quality show, our performance has been head and shoulders ahead of all others. So, for us, the mantra for rural lending is give what they want, and at the right time without leveraging the customer.

Pratik: Sudipta, if you leverage four, five years ahead, and if you look at India of 2030, on one hand, obviously the country will grow with the growth in GDP, etc. The population that will come in terms of borrowing financial services will be the Gen Zs of today. How will your organization evolve to cater to the Gen Zs and how differently will India borrow in the next four or five years?

Sudipta: Majority of the borrowing is becoming digital. I remember when I started my retail financial services journey, a large amount of the origination used to be through the direct sales channel. That channel is still relevant today, but the fact is that a large amount of the borrowing has moved online. A large of the amount of the borrowing has moved on demand. I believe that, as the Gen Z comes up, a couple of lending/ asset classes will probably have more salience than others. In cards and payments, we are at 80-85 million cards today. Probably we will get to about a 100 million very soon. But the Gen Z wants to make sure that that at least while they are paying, they maximize their payment and earn rewards. I see a lot of Gen Z customers focused on what rewards that they get. They want their money to work much, much harder, or even when they borrow, thar try to squeeze the last juice out of that borrowing equation. They are very astute about what rates are available in the market. Because thanks to the FinTech revolution, information is much more freely available. And they are more likely to go and seek a loan.

One of the interesting features about Gen Z or Gen Alpha is that as they will come in, they trust tech platforms equally as they trust the brick-and-mortar banks. For them, going to Google Pay or going to CRED or PhonePe and taking a loan is similar to going in to a full stack bank or an NBFC. They are more likely to seek a loan digitally. And last but not the least, they are more likely to seek service instantly. For a generation built on Swiggy and Zomato, where you are seeing your delivery coming and you are used to tracking it, for a Gen Z to log a service request and being told that it will take four days for the financial services institution to come back, they just cannot fathom it. Someone should give me minute by minute update.

Pratik: The Amazon experience, I need the Amazon experience.

Sudipta: Yes, they want the same e-commerce, quick commerce experience in financial services.

Pratik: That is true. And that is where most of the financial services organizations, though movement has been made, still have miles to reach.

Sudipta: I agree. In fact, in my organization when I asked, what is that we commit to our customers? In how many days we will get back? I am not telling that it was mortifying. They said, we will take X days to get back. I said, what's that? So progressively we have been bringing it down. But the fact is that Gen Z expects that. I log in and my problem should be solved in the next 15 minutes. I applied for a loan; I should get the loan response within the next 15 minutes. They want the same experience. And that is where financial services have to move to.

Pratik: You are right. And this comes time and again, and like you said, customer experience, customer services, are the stakes. At this stage, everything will revolve around it. If I ask a provocative question, do you think the tables might change for organizations that don't really focus on these parts?

Sudipta: Absolutely. Large organizations? Absolutely. I will tell you a line which I said in a townhall. We completed 30 years this year. I normally speak extempore. But this is the first time I wrote down my speech because I wanted to be very, very clear in what I say, and I also wanted to be very focused on what I say. And I said clearly that in the next decade, a lot of the existing winners will fall by the wayside and a lot of new winners will be created in 10 to 15 years, because they are again at an infection point. And given the fact that AI is moving at such a fast pace.

I am sure you are following the trends of transforming your image to Studio Ghibli style image has just like spread like wildfire. Yes, the AI world is moving very fast and the speed of adoption is very fast. Organizations that do not understand this and organizations that do not change fast enough to use applicative AI in all their lines of work will fall behind. And as I said, a new set of winners will be created.

Pratik: I am glad you are saying this because I am hoping a lot of our Gen Z viewers understand that financial services is moving in that direction. Because what bothers me sometimes with a lot of the younger folks is that, when we were starting our careers, the top talent used to go to financial services. And now, all of a sudden, that top talent is sort of distributed between financial services and e-commerce companies. And I think leaders like yourself are paving the way of how financial services are transforming themselves using tech and AI. That is where the top talent needs to be. So, I will take the cue from that. I know you are a big proponent of tech and AI. You gave me a glimpse of what you did in Cyclops. Just fast forward next three, four years. How do you think AI will transform financial services more specifically?

Sudipta: Finance will consume an incredible amount of engineering. The products and services that the financial services firms will bring to their customers will have a solid bedrock of engineering, built on the latest tools. If you see in Cyclops, it is more of machine learning and less of AI. If you look at Cyclops, which is our machine learning based three-dimensional credit engine. If you look at some of the tools that you are using in AI, for example, in microfinance auto attendance using face match. Using a deep learning algorithm. I do believe that most organizations will have three buckets in which AI will be used. First thing is in onboarding, how you can onboard in a far more foolproof fashion. In fact, for example, one of the problems that we face in two-wheeler business, which is a very large business for us, is that there are a lot of customers who come, they are not the end user of the bike. They are just lending their credit profile for someone else to pair up the bike. Now what we are doing is that we are using very advanced machine learning to build an algorithm instantly… we call the algorithm the Shikhandi algorithm. That means, putting someone in the front, to identify mules. And we are able to do that now to a 94% certainty level. Fantastic, right? This is a very good outcome of using technology to solve a problem on the ground in terms of micro loans against property.

We are using Gen AI based tools to grade the quality of a dwelling. It goes and checks whether you know it has got exposed wiring or not. Is it a pukka house? Or a Kutcha house? Is it painted or non-painted. The interior photograph is able to decode and come up with the standard of living index. Which goes as a feed into the credit algorithm.

I believe that, in origination you can use, in portfolio management, you can use, in customer service, you can use. And you can use in overall interaction layer with the customer. It is in every sphere that you can use.

The way your data systems are structured, it requires a lot of streaming data flow as well. So, how they are structured and how you are able to manage the latency during all these processes to deliver a seamless user experience will define the winners and the losers from tomorrow. The bedrock principles of financial services will still remain the same. But the delivery mechanism will become completely, technology driven, seamless, invisible.

Pratik: And you know, I call it the Agentic mesh because all these agents that you are building will automatically over a period start becoming experts. So, you are building various chefs in the kitchen. One chef is very good at frying, other chef is very good at cutting. And then you are building this data layer, which is like a mesh. And the journey will move in such a seamless manner from product exploration to onboarding, to underwriting, to servicing.

Sudipta You almost see AI architecting that entire journey in a very successful way. I will give you a good example. Our first agent, we call it KAI - Knowledgeable AI. We build it for our mortgage business because we feel that normal chatbots are very generic. We go there, they will regurgitate some templated answers. In 30 seconds, you feel bored. KAI can meaningfully interact with you. It is able to do bilingual, from English or Hinglish you convert to English, it is able to pick up English. And if you say, I want to borrow so and so and I want to repay X amount, then what will be my EMI, or give simulation for my EMI, it instantly gives it. It does it on the fly. What has happened is that among people who came and used KAI to get some of their questions answered, invariably ended up applying for a loan at our end. So, it has turbocharged our lead generation from digital platforms.

Pratik: This is a sign of times to come. But this is fantastic what you are already doing. If I had to ask you that, if there was a leader or a person that you would want to follow for a week or a mirror or watch, who would that be and why?

Sudipta: I really admire Elon Musk. I have been following him for the last six to eight years. If you go to YouTube and this three-part series of “Everyday Astronaut”, where Elon takes the guy who runs this channel ‘Everyday Astronaut’, through the Touro service in Texas. And talks about his philosophy of building SpaceX. Whatever money he made from the sale of PayPal or whatever money he got from PayPal, he put a part in Tesla. He put a part in SpaceX. In SpaceX, he was one launch away. There is a very iconic photo. I don't know whether you have seen that photo. They launched off an island, and the entire rocket crashed. To do the analysis as to why it crashed, he assembled the parts of the rocket in a shed and Musk, sitting on his haunches, he is looking at the parts of the rockets. And this is when you are inches away from bankruptcy. Literally. And from there to the concept of rapid reusability. And now the nerd in me will come out, you will see how the Raptor engine has gone through its iterations and how it has become simpler over time. How the Merlin engines progressed. And how they have iterated the design of the Star Ship, to chopsticks catching the spaceship. See, when he first said four years back that we will have a chopstick catch the Starship, everybody said, this is nonsense. But the fact is that they have done it. He did. In that ‘Everyday Astronaut’ three-part series, he tells his management philosophies. I trade fast, fail fast, cut your losses, and move on. And, and there are several of them.

At the end of the day, he is a person who works 24/7. The story is that he used to sleep beneath the table in the Telsa factory when they were having troubles in scaling production. He slept for one year beneath his office table. Either he used to sleep on the roof or sleep under the table. Which also means that, and this is my definition of who a Chief Executive Officer or CEO is. I say that that day of a Chief Executive Officer, who is like a mythical being, sitting in a corner like a fairytale, comes and shows his face at times when the window opens… those days are over. The CEO is defined now as Chief Execution Officer. And Musk is who embodies Chief Execution Officer. If you have to build Tesla, if you have to build SpaceX, if you have to build Neuralink, if you have to build Starlink, excellence does not come like this, you know. (Thomas) Edison bol ke gaya hai, 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. Quit compromise.

Pratik: What is your advice to some of the younger folks?

Sudipta: Slowly practice the art of detachment. Previously, I used to carry work home. Be focused, but do not be consumed. You know, our ancestors told us long time back, karam karo, phal ki chinta mat karo. 48 carat gold philosophy. If you are detached, you do not have that much of stress.

Last thing is go out of your office and switch off. Have a very strong hobby or a personal pursuit. I have a very strong hobby and a personal pursuit. I can come out of a very gruelling board meeting where things might have gone sideways. I will go home, I will open my computer, I will open my photography editing tool and I am completely switched off.

Pratik: I am going to our second segment now. I can actually go on and on but the second segment is ‘Flash Finesse’. It is about questions and answers in a flash. Our take on the rapid fire. Give us whatever answers come to your mind.

Pratik: One word that sort of describes your leadership style.

Sudipta: I would say, enabling.

Pratik: One habit you swear by to pick your productivity?

Sudipta: Discipline

Pratik: A mistake you are glad you made?

Sudipta: I originally thought leaving FMCG would be a mistake. But it was probably the best thing.

Pratik: Paperback or ebook?

Sudipta: Paperback. The feel of having a physical book in the hand. Nothing can beat it.

Pratik: Hills or beaches?

Sudipta: Hills. Though I like beaches as well. But you know, given a preference, hills.

Pratik: Street food or fine dining?

Sudipta: Actually, both. Both of them have their nuances.

Pratik: You cook?

Sudipta: I cook a bit.

Pratik: It is good therapy.

Sudipta: Yes, it is good therapy.

Pratik: AI-driven decisions or human expertise?

Sudipta: Horses for courses. Difficult, nuanced, moral dilemma handling - human expertise. Rote, brute force, processing and decision making – AI that does not have a moral overhand.

Pratik: Big picture or the fine details?

Sudipta: Actually, both. You need to see the big picture, but you should have the capability to zoom in when needed. So actually, both.

Pratik: Do you get time for friends, over the weekends?

Sudipta: Yes. I have a very strong friend network. And this is very important. Everyone that you meet in your life, barring your family and friends, have probably some sort of agenda. It is only your friends that give you free unfiltered feedback. They don't care. If you really want to know what is going wrong, if you really want to know what you are doing wrong, if you really want good advice without any agenda, it is friends. And we have a ritual now, about eight or 10 of our school friends meet for four days every year. Some of your old friendships actually keep you much more grounded and give you touch with the past. At the end of the day, when you are with friends, you are not looking over your shoulders.

Pratik: Absolutely lovely to know you, Sudipta. On a parting note, whatever you please, your life in a hashtag or as a movie title or a song, whatever that inspires you.

Sudipta: Tough one, again. So, hashtag would be #CreativeEnergy.

Pratik: You are creative and have lots of energy for sure. Thank you so much for spending time with us. It was lovely to know about the various facets of your life and I am sure the viewers will enjoy this a lot more. Thank you again and thank you for hosting us at your lovely facility.

Sudipta: Thank you.

Episode 2: In this episode, Pralay Mondal, Managing Director and CEO of CSB Bank reflects on his professional journey and how early experiences in FMCG shaped his approach to distribution and deep market penetration. He shares stories from his journey across Colgate, Wipro, HDFC, and Axis Bank, emphasizing the importance of discipline, decisiveness, and respect for people in leadership. A passionate cook and firm believer in simplicity, Pralay talks about building culture and values-driven organizations. The episode also explores his vision for the future of banking—anchored in strong governance, human capital, technology, customer orientation, and compliance. While technology will be a driving force, he reminds us that it is the culture and people that will ultimately define lasting impact.

Intro: Welcome to the second episode of Leadership Unscripted. In this episode, Pratik Shah, Partner and National Leader Financial Services at EY India, hosts Pralay Mondal, MD and CEO of CSB Bank to learn about his journey from being in the FMCG sector to becoming an “accidental banker” and now a highly respected name in financial services. Pralay shares his views on the importance of early learnings and responsibilities as a leader, while also focusing on the transformative impact that customers of the future and technology will continue to have on banking.

Pratik Shah: Leadership. It is more than just a title. It is a journey shaped by decisions, fuelled by experiences, and defined by stories. And some of the most powerful stories are the ones you have not heard, just yet. The stories are real, the insights game changing, and the leaders, they are right here. I am excited. Welcome to Leadership Unscripted. Today we are honored to host Mr. Pralay Mondal, esteemed MD and CEO of CSB. He has a distinguished career, built across a range of institutions, from Colgate to Wipro, Axis and HDFC Bank. I have known him for many years. Mr. Mondal is a luminary in financial services. His contribution have been in terms of transforming retail banking in a range of organizations. Thank you, Mr. Mondal, for joining us. It's a big pleasure to have you here.

Pralay Mondal: Thank you for inviting me. Just one clarification: I am not young anymore but my mind is young so I hope I will be able to connect with the young.

Pratik Shah: Can you go back to the beginning of your journey and share some of the highlights in early life and the path that you have taken that made you the leader who you are today?

Pralay Mondal: You have introduced me as a banker, but in a way I am an accidental banker because when we were coming out of our management institutes, when we were giving the interviews, I used to pull my classmates’ leg at IIM-Calcutta, that you are going for Citibank, Grindlays and realized that those were the day one jobs in banking. We got interviewed in Colgate, Unilever. I got into Colgate, and I never thought that I will ever join banking but destiny.

I must say that I learned a lot in Colgate and in Wipro. It was a sunrise organization that time, and we saw the legendary (Azim) Premji from very close. We had the opportunity to see him because he used to interact with us every quarter and talk about his values and he had belief sessions with us, and they were amazing. I can tell you what we learned about distribution in Colgate-Palmolive is still probably 50 years ahead of where banking is today. I used to run the inter-rural distribution and we used to see how we will go to the next mile. I used to wonder that if I am driving 3 hours going and 3 hours coming back to just sell 10 sachets and few tooth powders, how will I get RoI? Much later I realized how these markets were built and that's where the larger revenue comes. Much later in life, when I started the ‘deep geo’ concept at HDFC, which has become very large now, I had initiated it along with some of our team members with the guidance of Aditya (Puri), of course. The whole germination of the thought came from Colgate, how we used grassroots distribution models to reach deep geographies and sell products. That is the same thing happened in banking. Much later, when I joined Axis, I also told Amitabh (Chaudhry) the same thing, let’s do a deep geo which will eventually play out. Unfortunately, I had a little shorter time in Axis and COVID-19 also came so we could not do what we wanted to do, but the thought was there.

Later, Mohnish came and made it Bharat Banking, which is doing very well. I must say that early learnings which we get in our life can be transformed and banking is traditional sales distribution customers. In a way a little behind the FMCG companies in terms of distribution, products, processes, marketing and all that stuff, but I think we are catching up. It is a very interesting journey.

Pratik Shah: Fantastic and interesting. It is interesting you mentioned about the experience of understanding and going deep into India and understanding the real Bharat. It gets you to think about what sort of distribution strategy will work as you expand banking deeper into the heartland, because metros are different and driving three hours is the patience you need to understand the heart of India. It is a very different learning and cannot be replicated.
Leaders often have small habits that set the tone of how they look at things. Do you have a simple ritual, personal or professional that helps you to stay energized throughout the day?

Pralay Mondal: I am very organized. Whether it is in the kitchen or office. If I open a bottle of oil, I will ensure that it is closed, and it is kept back in the right place because I do cook.

Pratik Shah: You love cooking?

Pralay Mondal: Yes. It is a way to de-stress for me. For you power lifting is de-stressing, for me it is cooking.

In my office, you will never see a single piece of paper. It has been the same for 30 years because I always try to keep things back where they were. And if something has to be done, I fundamentally believe that sitting on it for more than 5 minutes will not help because I will not think differently after 5 minutes. If at all, I will forget what is the context. My instruction to my team, to my executive assistant who has worked with me for the last 20 years is - come in, get the signature, get the decision and take the paper out. Do not keep anything here. Do not think. Just get going. Do not procrastinate. Just take a decision. Quick decisioning. I saw this in one of the bosses I really learnt a lot from, and I admire – Mr. Aditya Puri. You go to him, and you will not sit in front of him for more than 2 minutes for a decision. If I could do even 1/100th of that. You learn from people, and you know what is good to do. So

trying to do something good is always good. I practice all these things when I am at home and at office and everywhere and it is helping.

Pratik Shah: Fantastic, but I also learnt something today that you love cooking. Next time I am going to take you up on that. In this world of social media, where everyone is everywhere, you have a very limited social media presence which obviously creates that intrigue as well. But tell me more about what's your thought process on being or not being on the social media.

Pralay Mondal: Something I do not do, does not necessarily mean it is not important. That could be my personal choice because I may have other priorities in my life. I am not on any of the social media platforms other than WhatsApp. I don't think social media is bad, provided you use it productively. But what I see today is that a lot of the social media news and everything is coming to me in some form or the other, either my team is sending or something else is happening somewhere. I get a lot of things from you guys as well and thanks for that. Getting knowledge does not necessarily mean that you have to only get it from social media. But I also see the other part of social media and that is a lot of distraction. And time is at a premium. So, I think that from a knowledge gathering, for connecting with people it is very good, but if it is interfering in your personal life, then I'm not that type. So, to that extent I have managed without it.

Pratik Shah: This is a good message to a lot of younger leaders. To consume but consume selectively and responsibly.

You have been at the helm of various banking giants and have seen very varied landscapes as far as banking is concerned. There is always a thing around core values and purpose driven leadership. From your perspective, what is a set of core values that is non-negotiable, and have always been your driving force in any decision that you make.

Pralay Mondal: This is my favorite subject. I try to tell everybody I meet, including my children. There is a history to it. I learned it from my parents, and I think that is where a lot of us.

learnt in our upbringing. Coming to professional life, I learnt it from (Azim) Premji himself. I still remember he had these belief sessions and he would ensure he spent hours and hours with all the new joiners and middle level leaders. We used to sit through those sessions and listen to what he was saying. The amount of patience he used to have in explaining to everyone! In the end,he used to give a card, which had these beliefs written and we kept it in our pockets. People talk about communication. Communication is not English. Communication is how effectively you have been able to translate your vision to the last mile That's what I saw him doing at that level.

So, there are about four or five, I have imbibed to the best of my ability. I cannot do what he did. One is respect for people and other is ethics and integrity. These are larger subjects. Ethics and integrity are not being corrupt. Ethics and integrity mean how are you committed to the values of the organization, committed to the values of your society, to your family and all of that. It's a very large subject and probably we are

just learning. That I have tried to do. Of course, there are other values like customer orientation but these two I have tried to ensure. Respect for people is most important.

In the corporate world, you must take tough decisions, but tough decisions can be taken without disrespecting somebody and I make this statement to everybody and a very strong statement that nobody has the ability to disrespect you without your consent. I want to tell everybody who's listening that nobody can ever disrespect you without your consent. If someone is disrespecting you, you must have given them consent. Because you always have an option. These are the two values which I have imbibed.

When I was leaving Axis and joining CSB, which was a big decision because I was handling a large portfolio with a large balance sheet and in CSB we had to build it back. I saw in Fairfax the same values– integrity, ethics and respect for people. I said, that's it, I want to join here. I think that's how you grow, and you learn, build and practice it every day.

Pratik Shah: It such a deep thought, respect for people as you get successful and as you start building larger businesses. I think somewhere, a lot of the younger leaders need to listen to this because, that style of leadership builds a very different, long-term following, which you have. And I've always seen a lot of leaders, but somehow you are this magnet that pulls a lot of leaders from different parts who would want to work with you because of that style of leadership. It speaks volumes of your style of leadership as well.

Pralay Mondal: It is the environment you create. An environment where people participate. Of course, people join for many reasons but environment matters.

Pratik Shah: CSB has its own rich history, a very diverse history. It would be very useful to understand your vision in terms of how you think the next four or five years will be like.

Pralay Mondal: As you know, we changed our name to CSB Bank after Fairfax became a promoter in the bank in 2019. Very recently, we added a tag line that truly represents us. This tagline is, “Trusted Heritage Smart Future”. I can show it now on my card. What it means is that you have to respect what the bank is and the bank was. Because we are a 104-year-old bank and not too many institutions survive for 104 years in the whole world. At the same time, you cannot be constant. You must take it forward and participate in the larger ecosystem, because if you are not scaled up, if you are not meaningful, then you are not a part of the larger system. That's how we are building leadership, we are building distribution, we are building products. We are going through an absolutely fantastic transformational journey.

On the technology side I don't want to go too much micro into it. But it's just amazing what we are doing. In fact, our OEMs have said that not too many banks have tried so many things together. We do not have a choice because we have to do it and we have to do it fast. So, I think it has been very interesting so far and I am proud of the leadership team. They are all amazing guys. They work together as a team and finally it is not about individual talent. We will come together and do it together. Everybody has a passion to build this bank, and I think we have a bright future.

Pratik Shah: Oh absolutely, I can see that on the floor. The entire leadership team that sits on the floor. Going back to the environment that you have created, a whole bunch of young, excited leaders that you build together. There is a big, fantastic story ahead.

If you had to call out big four or five trends for 2030 from a banking industry standpoint, from a business perspective, from a technology perspective, what would be the big bets.

Pralay Mondal: Four or five pillars, which we have also said for our bank. If you have to create a Long-term story for the country, for the industry, for the bank, I believe these five pillars are very important. One is governance. The second one is human capital. The third one is technology. The fourth one is customer orientation and fifth is compliance. All are important. I keep saying that this will be with me, this will be beyond me in the organization and I am sure that this will be true for most of the financial industry as well because Compliance has become such a large subject, Governance has become such an important subject and it is not about a tick on the box exercise. How do you do in spirit is very important. What is coming from the top as a vision from the board, from the CEO's office is very important.

So, I think these are very important to build an institution and if I think India is destined to become a very big powerhouse in the world and to that extent, there is a significant growth story. I just want to give one message to the youngsters watching – it is not always just about making a quick buck. There is something beyond that. Money will come and go, family will come and go, but the contribution you make (will last long). Much later in life, when you look at the journey and what you did, you can say, I did this, I made a difference here. Look at it also as a journey and this industry will give you that opportunity. Unfortunately, I have not seen the kind of talent coming into banking what used to happen before 2000. Because obviously opportunities are huge today. People are going to multiple places, etc. Banking does not give you instant gratification, but you have a responsibility to do something for the country.

Pratik Shah: Very important point you have mentioned on responsibility because if you have to really achieve the vision of Viksit Bharat, the entire banking and the financial services industry will have a massive role to play and we need that talent in this industry to really shape the way. Also, I think the other important point you mentioned is these are all the pillars - one is not greater than other. If you really want to build a strong house, each of these pillars has to be equal and equally strong. Customer orientation without technology will not get solves and without Governance, a technology problem will not get solved. Very interesting lessons for a lot of folks to carry forward.

You mentioned about Viksit Bharat, and you mentioned a vision. If you had to pick one big trend that you think will redefine banking or transform banking in the next five years, whatwould that be?

Pralay Mondal: Transformation, of course, will always be technology because banking is becoming more of technology today because customers would expect everything on the go. And decision making has to be fast and informed. How do you have re-iterative processes and decision making? What we hear about AI/ML and all of these is nothing but reiteration 2000 million times of the same thing so that you get better at decision making. Quicker automated processing and all of that stuff. Customers of future will be impatient, they want the right decisions and everything at the lowest cost. Having said that, I must say that technology is a great leveller. Today, you are ahead. Tomorrow somebody will be ahead of you depending on different things. It is a race. It is not an option you have. You have to do it, but finally what will make a difference is the culture of an organization, culture of the industry. How you do it the right way and who is doing it. The people element will never go away. People remain important and hence we cannot say that AI/ML will replace people because the final distinction between A and B will be how do you deliver the last mile.

Pratik Shah: I really hope everyone pays a lot of attention to what you just said. I think while technology will be table stakes, but at the end of the day it is the culture that will make a differentiated organization and I think that is sometimes forgotten in the race. Thank you for bringing that up. You mentioned spending time with friends and some of the best recesses you do is with friends. Throughout these years you must have kept in touch with some of your old friends. Tell us about your old connections and how do you continue to be in touch or does the work life consume you? How do you spend time with your friends?

Pralay Mondal: It is always important to have connections with your friends whom you know for a long time. For me one friend is at home because my wife was my schoolmate. There is a friend at home. It starts from home. But when I look back, I made friends not only in school and colleges but very good friends at work. When I was in HDFC Bank and I was building the card business, the entire team would go together abroad with the families and with their children. The children are connected more than what we are connected. It is such a wonderful family. When people say work is family, this is a live example of that. So, it is not that making friends happens only in school. This is a message I want to give that if you create the right environment, you can be demanding with your team because we build the best card business which still is probably the best and these are the same set of people who built it and they are still friends.

Pratik Shah: What is amazing for me is to hear how seamless it has been. From work to building relationships to friendship. It goes back to your ethos of respecting people, creating that sort of an environment – work, family, friendship sort of transcends itself in a very natural manner which makes the whole surrounding a lot easier to work. This brings me to the end of our first segment. Let's go to our second segment. This is what we call the ‘flash finesse’. So, are you ready? One word that describes your leadership style?

Pralay Mondal: I think inclusive and decisive.

Pratik Shah: A leader you would love to have a coffee with, real or fictional, or whatever?

Pralay Mondal: I have seen him in action in my early days and I would love to get a chance to have a coffee (Azim) Premji with him again.

Pratik Shah: A mistake you are glad you made?

Pralay Mondal: Coming to banking was accidental for me but the way it has transformed, I feel more responsible today in terms of contributing more to what I can. Maybe I would have done better in the commercial sense if I was working in IT, Colgate or somewhere else. But I feel lot more satisfied with my contribution. I am happy.

Pratik Shah: If you have to describe your life in a hashtag or a tagline, what would that be?

Pralay Mondal: Keep it simple.

Pratik Shah: Your comfort food?

Pralay Mondal: I am a Bengali, so rice and fish curry.

Pratik Shah: The best advice you ever received.

Pralay Mondal: Try to be a good human and make a difference to somebody's life, because I have seen many times that a lot of leaders do not even know what difference they made to me. How you walk the talk, because when your teams are seeing you, you do not know who is seeing you, but they will follow you. If you do something wrong, they will follow you. If you do something good, they will follow you. So, we carry a lot of responsibility within our hands. That is something which I always remember.

Pratik Shah: Open door policy or schedule check-ins?

Pralay Mondal: I have never followed scheduled check-ins. Always open-door policy.

Pratik Shah: Early bird or late night?

Pralay Mondal: Oh, I have been late night from my college days. I used to sleep at 3 a.m. in my IIT days. So, I could never get up early in the morning.

Pratik Shah: Paperback or e-book?

Pralay Mondal: Actually, I don't read many books. That's a big negative, I have to improve on that. I don't read many books.

Pratik Shah: Are you a brand freak or into sustainable fashion?

Pralay Mondal: I keep it simple.

Pratik Shah: Street food or fine dining? I'm sure I know the answer.

Pralay Mondal: Street food. Being from Kolkata, street food is obvious.

Pratik Shah: Build a business or invest in startups?

Pralay Mondal: Build a business.

Pratik Shah: If you are to pick one movie dialog that really resonates with you, what would that be?

Pralay Mondal: Kal ho na ho. I think we must live in the present and build the future. We must make a difference for whomsoever we can because, which car you drove, which suit you wore, which house you stay, no one will remember, but if you make a difference in somebody’s life, whom you do not even know, that person will remember you forever. I believe in that. That is very important.

Pratik Shah: One song that always uplifts your mood.

Pralay Mondal: Humme tumse pyaar kitna, yeh hum nahi jaante, magar jee nahi sakte tumhare bina.

Pratik Shah: You are a romantic as well as a passionate human being. This song is from the movie Kudrat, and that is your kudrat/nature.

Thank you so much for giving us a glimpse of a very different side of you. I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and I really appreciate you spending so much time with us. Thank you.

Pralay Mondal: Thank you, Pratik, I really enjoyed every part of this conversation and, of course, we will be in touch. Thank you.

Disclaimer:

The transcripts were generated using automatic speech recognition and errors may occur. Please review for accuracy.
The views and opinions expressed by the guests and hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of EY.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients.

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Leadership Unscripted | Conversations with pioneers in Financial Services

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