Meet The Gandhian Capitalist - Samit Ghosh

Ujjivan founder Samit Ghosh nurtured the microfinance institution and then transformed it into a bank—Ujjivan Small Finance Bank—reducing his stake to comply with norms. As he prepares to exit office in November, the 69-year-old former Citibank executive is on the lookout for a successor.

- Debojyoti Ghosh

A phone call interjects as we start to chat. “Make red (parboiled) rice and regular fish curry,” says banker Samit Ghosh, instructing the person on the other end about his Saturday dinner menu. “What’s the variety of fish? Have you checked?… I don’t want seer fish [a popular south Indian sea fish],” says Ghosh. It’s rare for Bengalis to take a liking to sea fish after being used to river fish like hilsa. “Make either ladyfish or pomfret,” he says.

Like how meticulous the 69-year-old Ghosh is about his meals, so is he about his plans for his last year in office. In a career spanning more than four decades—a large part of which he spent at Citibank—Ghosh built one of India’s most successful non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), Ujjivan Financial Services, which in 2017 went on to become a small finance bank (SFB). The company has managed to successfully make the transition despite being in a highly regulated sector. It ranks 91 on the Next 500 list after dealing with big challenges such as the impact of demonetization. As CEO and managing director (MD) of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, which serves more than 4 million customers, Ghosh is busy finding a successor. “According to the RBI [Reserve Bank of India] guidelines, I can serve the bank only till 70. So six months ago, we started the process to look for a successor. We appointed Egon Zehnder [a global executive-search firm] to help us,” he says.

The bank has picked three prospective candidates from the Indian banking system and has submitted an application to the RBI on January 25. “By June this year, the person should be on board,” he adds. In an interview with Fortune India, Ghosh talks about his journey at Ujjivan: leading its transition to a small bank, cracking banking regulatory challenges, and his plans after retirement. Edited excerpts: