IDFC FIRST Bank Merger and Financial Overview
Board of Directors: MD & CEO Profile
Board of Directors
Vaidyanathan aspires to create "a world-class bank Indian Bank which offers high-quality affordable and ethical banking for India".
He left a Board level position at ICICI group in 2010 and bought shares of a small listed, loss making, real-estate financing NBFC with
market cap of Rs. 780 crores. He did so by borrowing Rs. 78 crore, which he raised by pledging the purchased stock and his home as
collateral for the leveraged buyout.
He changed the business model to financing micro and small entrepreneurs by use of technology with ticket sizes of $100-$100K,
and raised fresh PE backed equity by demonstrating the proof of concept to investors. He renamed the company Capital First and
became its Chairman and CEO.
He then turned the company around from losses of Rs. 30 crores ($5m, 2010) to profit of Rs. 358 crore ($ 50m, 2018). The share
price of Capital First rose from Rs. 122 (2010) to Rs. 850 (2018) and the market cap increased >10 times from Rs. 780 crores ($120
m, 2010) to Rs. 8200 crores ($1.2 b, 2018). Per stock exchange filings, he bought the NBFC shares at Rs. 162 through leverage, and
sold part of his holdings at Rs. 688 in 2017 to close the loan availed to purchase the shares.
Capital First's retail loan grew from Rs. 94 crores ($14m, 2010) to Rs. 29,600 crores ($4 b, 2018) with 7 million customers. Having
built Capital First to scale, he looked out for a commercial banking license to convert it to a Bank. In 2018, opportunity struck in the
form of an offer for merger from IDFC Bank. Post the merger, and took over as the MD and CEO of the merged bank, renamed IDFC
First Bank. Since then he has increased retail and commercial finance book to Rs. 95,377 crores, increased NIM from 2.9% at
merger to 6.3%, increased CASA from 8.7% to 48.4%, and turned the bank into profitability.
The vision of IDFC First Bank is "To build a world class bank in India, guided by ethics, powered by technology and be a force for social good."
Earlier, Vaidyanathan worked with Citibank from 1990-2000. He joined ICICI Group in 2000 and set up its retail banking business since inception, took the branch network to
1411, built a large CASA book, and built retail lending including mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards of Rs. 1.35 trillion ($30 bn) by 2009. He joined the Board of ICICI Bank in
2006 at age 38 and became MD and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company at 41.
He has received many domestic and international awards notably CNBC Awaaz "Entrepreneur of the Year" 2020, "Most Inspirational Leveraged Management Buyout, India
2018" by CFI Awards, London, CNBC Asia's "Most Innovative Company of the Year" 2017, "Entrepreneur of the Year" at Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Award 2016 & 2017, "Most
Promising Business Leaders of Asia" by Economic Times. in 2016, Business Today - India's Most Valuable Companies 2016 & 2015, Economic Times 500 India's Future Ready
Companies 2016, Fortune India's Next 500 Companies 2016, Dun & Bradstreet India's Top 500 Companies & Corporates 2016 & 2015, "Outstanding contribution to Financial
Inclusion, India, 2017" from Capital Finance, London, "Most Promising Business Leaders of Asia" 2016 by Economic Times. He is an alumnus of Birla Institute of Technology and
Harvard Business School (Advanced Management Program). He has run 23 half-marathons and 8 full marathons.
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