Naina Lal Kidwai to step down as HSBC India chairman

Wants to spend more time in the areas of women empowerment and water and sanitation

After a 13-year stint, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation  India Chairman Naina Lal Kidwai is set to retire from the bank later this year. Kidwai will be stepping down on December 31. In 2002, she had joined as vice-chairman and managing director at HSBC Securities and Capital Markets, India, and was appointed a group general manager of the bank in 2006.

She later took over as the chief executive officer of HSBC India in 2007 and as chairman in 2009. She will also step down from her position of executive director on the board of HSBC Asia-Pacific.

Kidwai said she wants to move on to different pursuits and wanted to spend more time in the areas of women empowerment and water and sanitation.

HSBC reported a 12 per cent fall in post-tax profits from India for the six months ended June to $335 million (Rs 2,197 crore), compared with $380 million (Rs 2,492 crore) in the corresponding period of last year. The bank’s loan book in India increased to $8.46 billion (Rs 55,489 crore) as of June 2015 from $7.05 billion (Rs 46,241 crore) in June 2014.