This man needs no introduction in the world of finance. A market veteran and often referred as a gentle giant of Dalal Street and is known for his humble and calm demeanour. He is an inspiration to many and a role model for the aspirants in the financial world. He strongly believes in and has often quoted that “There is no substitute to Hard Work. Knowledge is a Life Long Journey”. We are talking about none other than Mr. Nilesh Shah in today’s TFP Profile.
Brief About Nilesh Shah
A gold medalist chartered accountant and a merit ranking cost accountant. He is the MD and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company. He has over 30 years of experience in capital markets and market-related investments, having managed funds across equity, fixed income securities and real estate for local and global investors. He is the recipient of the inaugural Business Standard Fund Manager of the year award – Debt in 2004. He has also co-authored a book on Financial Planning called “A Direct Take”. He was appointed as an Association of Mutual Fund (AMFI) chairman in 2018. In addition to his numerous achievements, his latest feather in the cap was the appointment as a member of PM’s Economic Advisory Council.
Early Life and Education
He faced a lot of challenges and overcame them in his early part of life. He is a perfect example of a person who created his own destiny. In spite, of losing his father at an early age and having financial troubles, he was never bogged down by it and excelled in his studies. He topped his school and also his college in spite of being from a vernacular medium. His mother’s words that learning and education is your passport to success has always inspired him and these words also helped him top his CA exam.
Professional Career
In his early career after clearing CA, he got a job offer from Larsen and Toubro. However, at L&T he was advised by the interviewer not to join the company and try to take on a challenging role in the financial sector which was opening up at that time.
Nilesh took this advice and joined ICICI Bank in the early ’90s in the merchant banking department. This was his stepping stone in the financial world. After his stint at ICICI Bank, he moved to ICICI securities where he covered foreign exchange and structured product markets. He then moved to Franklin Templeton in 1997, where he got an opportunity to manage both equity and fixed-income funds and emerged to be a star debt fund manager.
In 2004, he moved to ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company as a deputy managing director and CIO. Under his leadership and fund management, he got both bouquets and brickbats from the industry but his safe bets and risk-averse style helped investors avoid loses and assets under management quadrupled in a span of seven years.
In 2011, he joined Axis Bank as a president of the bank’s corporate banking division and overseeing its strategic initiatives and leading the bank in the investment banking space. He took over as MD and CEO of Axis Capital in 2013.
In order to explore opportunities outside the banking industry, in 2015 he joined Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company as MD and CEO. Under his leadership, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company is growing consistently and has grown from the ninth-largest mutual fund in 2015 to sixth-largest mutual fund as on date. Kotak MF has won many awards under his leadership including the CNBC best mutual fund house of the year in 2018.
At every step, he has created opportunities for himself and this had led to his amazing growth in his professional life. He always went a step ahead and did things which were not expected out of his current role which help him professionally grow on a wholesome basis.
Other Interesting Insights
He is a vociferous reader and spends at least 2 hours reading every day. He also plays an extremely important role in educating investors about financial planning and is famous for his analogies of explaining financial terms using mythological examples/characters, cricket examples and bollywood examples. He’s a firm believer of the India Story and has never missed an opportunity to defend the India story and express the love for the country.
Source: Economic Times, TimesNow, Kotak AMC website, Livemint, Mycastory, Bloombergquint
Follow Us @
Some Unrelated Stories!
