G Padmanabhan

Senior Consultant

Mumbai

Practice Area

I enjoy my work at AZB, as a former regulator attempting to help the best of young lawyers navigate the “why, if, what” of what regulators think.

Mr G. Padmanabhan expertise in India’s bank regulation and supervision of foreign exchange/securities markets, information technology and payment systems is unparalleled. This wealth of knowledge is the result of more than 35 years of experience with the Central Bank in multiple capacities, including recommending and implementing various policies, systems, guidelines and regulations relating to the banking, financial services and securities sectors of the country.

At the Reserve Bank of India, he was with the Accounting Department and Securities Department prior to 1986, in the Supervision Department from 1986 to 1994 and was a member of numerous committees and working groups in various capacities from 1994 to 2003. From 2003 to 2005, he was the Chief Executive of the Hyderabad Regional Office, headed the Information Technology Department (2005 to 2008), then Payment Systems (2008 to 2011). He served as the RBI’s Executive Director from 2011 to 2015. Since then, he has consulted with AZB & Partners to benefit the Firm and its clients with deep insights not just into regulatory concerns but also on the nuances of business and commerce in the banking and financial sectors.

DIRECTORSHIPS, MEMBERSHIPS AND AFFILIATIONS

Member of Working Group on priority in distributors among investors of AIFs’, constituted by SEBI in consultation with Alternative Investment Policy Advisory Committee (2023)
Canara Bank and Allahabad Bank
Involved in the operationalisation of the first of its kind, ISO 20022 standards-based RTGS System and the implementation of electronification of payment transactions
Chairman of the Committee to implement GIRO in India; involved in the implementation of the new e-Treasury system in the Reserve Bank
Chairman of then Technical Committee on Services/Facilities for Exporters; a part of the think tank to manage market volatility
Member, Governing Council of the Institute for Development & Research in Banking Technology, a banking research institute established by the RBI
Represented the RBI in the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems, Basel; inducted into the Steering Group of the CPSS-IOSCO for Review of Standards
Member of the Working Group of the CPSS which released the report on Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures; chaired the International Working Group set up by CPSS on Non-banks
Among those responsible for drafting the Sodhani Committee’s report on the foreign exchange market and measures for its expansion (1995)
On the RBI’s Capital Account Convertibility Committee to examine the feasibility of introducing capital account convertibility in India (1997)
Supervised implementation of Committee recommendations on liberalising exchange control regulations
Supervised the revision of the Internal Control Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Business (1996)
Member of the internal group that submitted a Technical Paper on Asset -Liability Management for Indian banks, which formed the basis for Reserve Bank of India’s initiative
Convenor of a Working Group that looked into introducing the Rupee Option in the foreign exchange market; member of another Working Group that permitted Foreign Currency-Rupee Swap product in the Indian market

Professional Qualifications

Advanced Executive Programme, Kellogg’s Business School (2008)
MBA with specialisation in International Banking and Finance, University of Birmingham (2001)
Masters Degree in Economics, Kerala University (1977)

RECENT RECOGNITION