Vault Matters: Why Private Banks Need More Returnees Like Shyam Srinivasan, Murali Natarajan

• Indian-origin foreign bankers like Shyam Srinivasan and Murali Natarajan transformed DCB Bank and Federal Bank after returning to India in 2009-2010.
• Federal Bank is now a top-six private bank, and DCB Bank is a serious mid-sized bank, attracting investor attention like Blackstone.
• These bankers brought cultural change, big thinking, technology focus, and customer-centricity, setting a template for growth.
• The success of these returnees highlights a missed opportunity for other private banks that struggle to attract global Indian banking talent.
• Kotak Mahindra Bank recently followed this trend with Ashok Vaswani, aiming to overhaul its culture and become more customer-centric.