RBL Bank is one of India’s leading private sector banks with over 11.15 million customers, 502 branches, and 1,418 business correspondent branches spread across India when I left them. As a new Bank, it had positioned itself as a Neo Bank. The Bank had ~5500 employees when I joined (over 9000 when I left) and had an ambitious talent agenda to support its business strategy. My key responsibilities included:1. Organizational Culture synchronization with RBL’s Vision, Mission & Values; 2. Diagnosis of leadership development needs, defining of leadership competency framework, creation of leadership framework across levels/roles 3. Talent & Succession practice aligned with organizational strategy; 4. Reward & Recognition framework; 5. Learning architecture with ‘fit-to-serve’ certifications ensuring desired performance 6. Employee engagement 7. Mandatory training and capacity building framework for the BankIn Corporate Social Responsibility, I supported the Head-HR, CSR & Internal Branding in the management and operations in accordance with its policy and CSR strategy. These included employee volunteering programmes.

Deutsche’s footprint in India includes its Banking divisions and its Operations & Technology Service Centres. With ~11,000 employees i.e., 50% of its Asia-Pacific headcount located here, as well as the only retail bank presence in Asia, India is an important country on its map. It presents a diverse employee profile base with a rich people agenda. Deutsche operates in a matrix structure and as such, I had dual reporting to Asia-Pacific/global leads as well as the India HR Head. I served in 3 roles here:1. Head of Talent & Development for South Asia (India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka) 2. Head of Talent & Development & Diversity India 3. HR Business Partner - Finance Division My key responsibilities were:1. Execution of DB’s Talent strategies: core development strategy, career development planning, coaching & mentoring programmes etc2. D&I agenda : diversity council, policies, employee affinity groups, sponsorship programmes, measurement etc.3. People Agenda for India Finance division: building resilience and alignment as well as supporting the HR activities of recruitment, annual performance cycle etc.Achievements:1. Selected as the only Vice President from APAC to represent the region at DB’s global conference.2. Anchored new Director & Vice Presidents promotion events at APAC level (based on a 180-day approach for transitions by Michael Watkins) 3. Set-up the employee affinity group for Persons With Disabilities which was adopted globally. DB was conferred with Disability Matters Award by Springboard Consulting in 2013.

In 2004, HSBC India’s consumer banking division redefined its value proposition and chose excellent customer service as the differentiator for making its brand, ‘The World’s local Bank’, come alive. This would set it apart from its rivals like Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank. I was recruited by HSBC to support this agenda given my Oberoi pedigree. Here I served in 3 roles:1. VP Service Training, India2. VP Content Development, India3. Head Learning & Development, Vietnam My key responsibilities were:1. Set-up and lead the customer service training practice for 46 branches and ~2000 employees in Contact Centre (overall 8500 employees, Team size 4). I introduced the Mystery Shopping concept to benchmark HSBC service experience against the best-in-class players in the market; HSBC Contact Centre climbed to third position from eighth within 3 months 2. Provided L&D consultancy to business groups e.g., Branch Banking, Operations, and Support functions. 3. Own training processes such as learning curriculum, Training Needs Assessment, Training effectiveness evaluation, communication, dashboards etc. During my time in Content Development, HSBC India Training team was bestowed with two awards:1. Asia Pacific Award for Best Training Intervention in Year 2007 for a culture building initiative to embed HSBC values in the hearts and minds of employees2. Golden Peacock National Training Award for excellence in training practices for Year 2007I was offered a short-term assignment to HSBC Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam where I set-up foundational processes such as induction & campus intake programme etc, and helped the HR Head in embedding HSBC L&D processes in the overall HR framework including recruitment & training of L&D team.

OCLD is rated amongst the best in Asia for hospitality and management education. To date, majority of the General Manager, Executive Chefs and Executive Housekeepers at Oberoi Hotels are alumni of OCLD. (https://www.oberoigroup.com/learning-programmes/ocld). I was appointed to OCLD as Senior Faculty and served in 2 roles here:• As faculty and coordinator for Management programmes, groomed fresh campus hires or associates, via the 2-year programmes to undertake management roles in the hotels, sustaining the culture, ethos and standards of the Group. I had the opportunity to contribute in the upgradation Management programmes by introduction & adoption of the Standard Academic Regulations, Curriculum, Syllabus (Front Office, Food & Beverage and Marketing) and on-job professional experiences under the leadership of Vice President OCLD• As project team lead to launch first-of-its-kind Systematic Training & Education Programme (STEP) targeted at Class XII students. The 3-year STEP programme, compared by some to the European internship programmes, combines comprehensive on-the-job training at select Oberoi/Trident Hotels along with a bachelor’s degree from IGNOU. I launched STEP in 9 hotels over 2 years, accrediting hotel trainers to train and mentor the young trainees, and administering lesson plans, assessments etc for the programme. Started in 2004, STEP continues to run successfully with 400-500 STEP trainees in various Oberoi & Trident Hotels.

The Oberoi Group operates 32 hotels under the luxury 'Oberoi' and five-star 'Trident' brands and has presence in seven countries. Founded in 1934, the group pioneered the idea of luxury hospitality in India and has an incomparable reputation in the hospitality industry. Its distinction emanates from the vision of its founders and their abiding philosophy: The guest is everything. I joined as Management Trainee and subsequently worked in hotel operations in Jaipur & Hyderabad, with short stints at New Delhi and Khajuraho hotels as well. The Operations Manager roles includes two domains i.e., Food & Beverage operations, and Front Office operations focussing on: • Revenue and occupancy targets: Average Room/Cover, Yields, cost optimization etc.• Guest management: Oberoi Service standards, making guests feel seen & heard• Team management: Training & engagement of team, other HR processes