SMART PEOPLE: RANA KAPOOR

Rana Kapoor

Rana Kapoor is all set to establish Yes Bank, a technology-driven, state-of-the-art private bank. The bank will commence operations in the third quarter of the financial year 2004-2005.

But why Yes? One wonders if it's not an unlikely name for a bank. "It's positive and has a reliable and trustworthy feel to it," Kapoor explains.

The bank will initially focus on corporate services and extend its operations to retail banking later. To begin with, the bank will have two branches - one each in Mumbai and New Delhi - and gradually expand its network to Chennai, Bangalore, Calcutta, Ahmedabad, Pune and Nasik.

"We intend to focus on medium- and small-scale industries, agriculture business and infrastructure," he says, adding that these areas have not received enough attention in terms of financing.

Kapoor, after acquiring his management degree from Rutgers' University, USA, started his career with Bank of America way back in 1980 in Mumbai. In 1996 he moved to ANZ Grindlays where he was head of investment banking. It was then that the entrepreneurship bug bit him.

In mid-1998 he left ANZ Grindlays to build Rabo Bank's Indian operations. Now he is raring to go again on the same path for Yes Bank. Why did he leave a cushy job with a foreign bank to take up the grind? "Entrepreneurial joy," he quips.

Challenges are what drive him and the biggest motivation, he says, is contributing something for the country. Apart from building banks, Kapoor is a keen golfer and has interests ranging from contemporary art to western classical music.

Kapoor is a busy man. Yet he insists on taking at least one annual vacation with his wife and three daughters.