Shashi Arora now CEO & MD, Airtel Payments Bank

Airtel Payments Bank on Wednesday appointed Shashi Arora as chief executive and managing director, replacing Manish Khera, who has decided to pursue his entrepreneurial journey. The appointment will be subject to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India.

With more than 26 years of experience across sectors, including FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods), telecom, media, and banking, Arora has served in many business leadership roles in consumer-focused and technology-intensive sectors.

Arora joined Bharti Airtel in February 2006 as chief operating officer (COO), Delhi circle, and was responsible for sales, marketing, and customer service operations in the circle. Since then, he has continued to rise in the group. Later, he became part of Airtel's mobile business, where he served as the chief executive of the upper north cluster as well as the Delhi circle. Arora was made chief executive of Bharti Telemedia, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, that provides DTH (direct-to-home) services, in August 2011. Under his leadership, the DTH business doubled its subscriber base as well as revenues, with over two-thirds of the new customers coming from rural India, according to the company.

"I am confident that under Shashi's leadership, our launch plans will gather further momentum," Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman, Airtel Payments Bank, said. "We look forward to delivering an outstanding banking experience to millions of customers across the country."

His appointment has come at a time when Airtel Payments Bank is ready to roll out its services. The company began operations in 2011 as Airtel M-Commerce Services and currently provides money transfer services and semi-closed wallet services (Airtel Money). It became the first entity in the country to receive a payments bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in April.

The company, which has presence in 800-plus towns across India, plans to start rolling out its network in the second quarter of the current financial year, using Bharti Airtel's 1.5 million outlets across India.

Prior to joining Bharti Airtel, Arora served as the Group Marketing Head of Kotak Mahindra Bank, and was part of the team that expanded Kotak's banking business after they procured the banking license. He started his career with Hindustan Unilever as a Management Trainee in 1990 after completing his MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur.