The Rise of a Maverick Banker – Indian CEO

In 2003 Rana Kapoor grabbed the opportunity to display his financial foresight and founded Yes Bank. His magnetism captured the public eye for a long time. Known for his meteoric rise and entrepreneurial success, let us get to know the man behind this enterprise who singlehandedly turned this brand new bank into the 4th largest private sector bank in India in a matter of a little over a decade.

Birth of A Passion
Born to a middle class family in Delhi, Kapoor had big dreams as a child. He often shared his dreams of starting his own company with his grandfather, who had immense trust in the young grandson’s dreams. After graduating from Shri Ram College of Commerce in New Delhi in 1977, he went off to USA to fulfill his dreams. He enrolled for MBA at Rutgers University in New Jersey. It was this stint that got him deeply inspired to pursue a banking career. He wanted to create something big, in this model, back in India. But before that he needed some more experience. Thus, upon the completion of MBA, he began his banking career as a management trainee in the Bank of America (BoA).

With a deep passion for banking, Rana Kapoor’s career flourished in 1980 at Bank of America (BoA), as he rose the ranks. His stance of taking intuitive risks, which brought him success every time, was highly commended by his employers. In 1990, he was awarded the coveted Eagle Pin by the chairman of the bank. With such a promising career trajectory, soon he became the head of their wholesale banking business as well as several high stakes assignments in various countries of Asia. However, all that success was not enough for him, as he had bigger dreams, of starting his own venture. After nearly a two-decade-long flourishing corporate career, Kapoor was resolved to embark on his own venture. He wanted to create something that he could call his own. He kept yearning for creative independence and even came up with an interesting business plan to create a non-banking finance company with five of his colleagues. It was presented to the American Insurance Group but nothing much came out of that plan. While his partners gave up on the idea, Kapoor was not ready to quit. Even though he continued his job at BoA, his passion was raging fire.

Fulfilling A Childhood Dream
After fifteen years at Bank of America, Rana Kapoor left his job to face new challenges, and embarked on the journey of his dream venture. While living abroad he missed his homeland deeply and dreamt of starting his venture back in India. His aim was to create a business that will not only serve his passion, but will also revolutionize the financial landscape of the country. He joined ANZ Grindlay’s investment bank in 1996 as the general manager and country head for India, which offered him valuable insights into the finance and banking sector of the country. After two years of working in this position, his desire to create his venture overpowered him and Kapoor felt that it was about time he quit his job.

The Professional Entrepreneur

In 1995 when a team from Rabobank came to India, in their search for opportunities, Rana Kapoor, his brother-in-law Ashok Kapur and Harkirat Singh pitched a proposal for a couple of joint ventures, comprising of a non-banking financial company as well as a bank. In the following year, there were several meetings between this Indian team and Rabobank executives of India, Singapore and the Netherlands, which led to the setting up of The NBFC in 1997. Kapoor and his partners chipped in an equity capital of ₹ 9 crore per person, thus, owing 25% of the equity in Rabo India. It was his first baby step into setting up financial business, which later evolved into his billion-dollar banking enterprise.

Journey to Yes Bank
When Rana Kapoor began his journey in the financial landscape of India, the path was not easy. Following the Asian currency of 1997, it was incredibly hard to set up a financial organization in the country. Moreover, the concept of…