Board of Directors

Mr. Deepak Patkar is the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of SMFG India Home Finance Co. Ltd.

Deepak has over 25 years of experience in various leadership roles spanning risk management, audit, quality assurance, sales and distribution, and collections. In his previous stint at SMFG India Credit Co. Ltd. as Chief Risk Officer, Deepak had established a strong balanced culture of business enablement with prudent risk measures, strongly backed by analytics, high governance and control standards

Prior to joining SMFG India Credit, Deepak served in leadership roles across companies such as Magma Fincorp Ltd, Citibank, HCL Infosystems and Cable Corporation of India. He is an electrical engineer with a Masters in Management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute, Mumbai.

Ms. Dakshita Das is an experienced bureaucrat, having served as an Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) Officer, and as MD & CEO at National Housing Bank.

Ms. Das has over 35 years of experience in the Government as a Civil Servant, including more than 11 years in the Ministry of Finance with a career spanning infrastructure financing, public finance and the financial sector, including insurance and debt recovery. She was the Chair of the Working Group constituted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development on Gender Budgeting and is currently a Ministry of Corporate Affairs Nominee on the Disciplinary Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India-Appellate member of the IPA.

She has handled the preparation of over 15 budgets for the central government including the Union Budget, budgets for States under the President’s rule & the Indian Railways budget. As MD & CEO of the National Housing Bank, she ensured the deepening of supervision and, tightening of regulations for systemically important companies while ensuring adequate availability of liquidity for the housing finance sector. As Additional Secretary in the Department of Financial Services, Ms. Das handled the charges of insurance and debt recovery and undertook key initiatives such as the first stage disinvestment of LIC.

Ms. Das has a deep understanding of the FS sector and has been on several boards including as a government nominee in the Bank of India, NIIF Infrastructure Finance, GIC Re and Actuary Council of India. She is also an eminent speaker on various distinguished panels about Public Policy, Gender and other related matters.

Ms. Das is a graduate from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi and holds an M.Phil. degree in Vietnam Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Mr. Surya Prakash Rao Pendyala is a Non-Executive, Non-Independent Director at SMFG India Home Finance Co. Ltd. He is a distinguished financial services veteran with over four decades of experience in the Indian Banking and Infrastructure sectors. Most recently, he served as Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer at the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), India’s quasi-sovereign wealth fund, from 2017 to 2023. At NIIF, Mr. Rao played a pivotal role in scaling the organization, establishing key funds, raising capital, and acquiring strategic assets.

Mr. Rao played a pioneering role in setting up and scaling two infra NBFCs, demonstrating a track record of spawning institutions with superior governance structures, chairing the Boards and the credit committees of these NBFCs.

Mr. Rao also served as Officer on Special Duty at the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, where he helped operationalize the concept of NIIF. Prior to his role at NIIF, Mr. Rao spent over three decades with the State Bank of India (SBI), where he held various leadership positions. Notable roles included Chief General Manager for Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry operations; General Manager of the Private Equity and Venture Capital vertical of SBI; and Deputy CEO of SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund. His expertise spans corporate finance, infrastructure and project finance, risk management, private equity, and venture capital. His career highlights include playing a pivotal role in the establishment of joint venture funds such as the SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund and Oman India Joint Investment Fund.

Mr. Rao is an Associate Member of Institute of Cost & Management Accounts of India.

Mr. Ravi Narayanan is the Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of SMFG India Credit Co. Ltd.

Ravi Narayanan brings three decades of leadership experience in India’s banking and financial services sector, with a proven track record of scaling businesses, driving strategic transformation, and building high-performing teams. An alumnus of IIT (BHU) Varanasi and FMS Delhi, he combines deep technical expertise with strong commercial acumen.

Before taking the helm at SMFG India Credit, Ravi served as Group Executive – Retail at Axis Bank, leading a network of 5,500 branches and 58,000 employees. He was instrumental in launching the Burgundy Private wealth management platform, expanding the bank’s NRI portfolio, and strengthening its international presence through operations in the UAE. His leadership extended to governance roles as nominee director on the boards of Axis Securities and Axis Mutual Fund.

Previously, at HDFC Bank, Ravi held multiple leadership positions across two decades, including Group Head of Branch Banking, overseeing 950 branches and an INR 1.1 trillion liabilities book. He also led the Retail Trade FX business, delivering INR 1,000 crore in annual income and making a significant contribution to the bank’s treasury revenue. Earlier roles included heading merchant acquiring, cash management, and current accounts, where he built scalable businesses from the ground up.

Additionally, after his stint with Axis Bank, Ravi served as an advisor to SMBC on its strategic investment in Yes Bank and supported the due diligence of the bank’s retail business franchise.

Education
MBA from FMS, Delhi
B.Tech from IIT Varanasi

Mr. Diwakar Gupta is an Independent Director on the Board of SMFG India Credit Company Limited. He has five decades of experience in the financial services industry across the public sector and development banking.

From 2015 to 2020, Mr. Gupta served as Vice President – Private Sector and Public-Private Partnerships at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In this role, he oversaw ADB’s assistance to private sector projects and was responsible for building and maintaining ADB’s public-private partnership operations.

Prior to joining ADB, Mr. Gupta was the Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of the State Bank of India. He was responsible for setting strategies and direction alongside other members of the Bank’s Central Management Committee. Having joined the Bank in 1974, he held several leadership positions across various units and subsidiaries, including Deputy Managing Director (National and Rural Banking) and Chief Executive Officer – SBI Card & Payment Services, among others.

Mr. Gupta has also worked in an advisory capacity with India Value Fund Advisors (IVFA) and Aditya Birla Financial Services Pvt. Ltd., and has served as an Independent Director on the boards of leading business councils, financial services companies, and other private organizations in India. Additionally, he spent two years as Senior Advisor (Research) at the Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL), promoted by the Reserve Bank of India.

Mr. Gupta graduated in Physics (Honours) from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and holds a Master’s degree in Physics from Delhi University. He is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB).