Bharat Doshi has stepped down as member of the Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Limited (Mahindra Finance) board, and consequently as its chairman with immediate effect, said a company statement on Wednesday.
The move follows his recent nomination as a director on the central board of the Reserve Bank of India, to avoid any conflict of interest and to be consistent with the principles of good governance.
Mahindra Finance, one of India’s leading non-banking finance companies, is part of the $17-billion Mahindra Group, which has received a payments bank licence from RBI and is in the process of setting up a management team for the payments bank.
“Bharat has been an integral part of the Mahindra growth story and a solid pillar of the group for over 40 years. He was a major player and prime mover in the creation and subsequent exponential growth of Mahindra Finance,” said Anand Mahindra, chairman, Mahindra Group.
Bharat Doshi was the executive director and group CFO of Mahindra & Mahindra from 1992 to 2013 and has played a critical role in laying the foundation of the group’s transformation into a widely diversified and financially strong federation of businesses, said the company statement.
“I am delighted with Mr Doshi’s appointment as director on the central board of the RBI. He has been my mentor since I joined Mahindra Finance and I will feel his absence the most. Under his guidance, the company has scaled greater heights by unveiling initiatives like Mahindra Rural Housing Finance and Mahindra Insurance Brokers,” said Ramesh Iyer, managing director, Mahindra Finance.
Mr Doshi has been associated with Mahindra Finance since its inception in 1991. He led the initiative of conceptualising, establishing and then nurturing and growing Mahindra Finance far beyond the captive status it had in its formative years. He was a member of the board of directors of Mahindra Finance from March 1992, and its chairman from April 2008, said the company statement, adding that Mr Doshi would continue to serve as chairman of Mahindra Intertrade Limited, and a trustee of the KC Mahindra Education Trust & the Mahindra Foundation. He will also continue on the board of governors of The Mahindra United World College of India.
