Nilesh Shah Axis Capital's new chief

Shah to replace Manish Chokhani

Axis Capital on Saturday announced deputy chief executive Nilesh Shah would take over as chief executive in the next few weeks, replacing Manish Chokhani. Chokhani, who would leave to pursue other interests, would be an advisor to Axis Bank. In 2012-13, Axis Capital’s transactions stood at about Rs 73,000 crore. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Axis Bank.

“Client-centricity will continue to be our focus. This is reflected by the repetitive business coming from existing clients. We are looking at developing an overall customer connection with the group so that we are a one-stop shop for all their financial needs. Irrespective of the cyclicity of the market, we believe we can do well, provided we continue servicing our clients,” Shah said.

In 2012-13, Axis Capital’s total investment banking fee income stood at $245 million, compared with $331 million in FY12. Chokhani said these had been at a cyclical low in FY13, adding the revenue of the industry had fallen to a third. “If we were to take the next cycle up, there should no reason why the industry’s revenue should not be three times what it is today,” he said.

Shah said despite the tough market conditions in the past financial year, Axis Capital had recorded about one transaction a week. To facilitate mergers and acquisitions, it had has also entered into partnerships with investment banks across the globe.

"We have limited presence in inbound and outbound M&As. Over the last one year, we built alliance partnership with various investment wings around the world. These are the markets where our clients are seeing interest to buy or sell assets. We now have to extract value out of these relationships," said Shah.