Ramesh Ramanathan

The Founder and Chairman of Janalakshmi, Ramesh Ramanathan has a proven track record in addressing various issues faced by urban India. Ramesh has to his credit strong international banking experience, creation of innovative institutional products, and working with cutting edge technology and risk management systems. He has an Honors degree in Physics from BITS Pilani, and an MBA from Yale University’s School of Management. He has also co-authored the book “Urban Poverty Alleviation in India,” and is a champion for the advocacy of poverty-related and public governance issues.

Mr. Rajamani Muthuchamy, Director, Managing Director and CEO

Mr Rajamani served in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) from 1982 to 2011. He belongs to 1982 batch IAS of Orissa Cadre and held various positions under the Government of Orissa from 1983 to 2002. He served as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Urban Development in 2002 and implemented JNNURM as its Mission Director. He is M.Sc. in Agricultural Extension and Served in Indian Administrative Service from 1982 to 2011. He held various positions in the Government of Orissa from 1984 to 2002. The positions he held, among other things, include Officer-on-Special Duty to the Chief Secretary, Orissa, Collector & District Magistrate of Kalahandi District, Vice-Chairman of Bhubaneswar Development Authority, Administrator of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, Managing Director of Orissa Mining Corporation before moving to the Government of India in 2002 as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Urban Development. He Joined Janaadhar (India) Pvt. Ltd., as Senior Vice President (Policy Advocacy) after obtaining VRS from the government. He functioned as a Group Resource for Jana Group of Institutions before joining Janalakshmi Financial Services as Executive Vice President (Public Finance) in 2005 after having served in the Indian Administrative Service for nearly three decades. He is also serving as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Jana Holdings Limited and Jana Capital Limited.

Mr. S V Ranganath, Independent Director

Mr. S V Ranganath belongs to 1975 Batch IAS of Karnataka cadre. As a Civil Servant, he worked in various capacities, both in the Government of India and the Government of Karnataka. He was the Chairman, Indian Coffee Board, Resident Director, Indian Investment Centre, Abu Dhabi, Principal Secretary to various Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor in the Department of Space, Member (Finance) to the Space Commission, Atomic Energy Commission and Earth Commission. He retired in October 2013 as the Chief Secretary to the Government of Karnataka. He was also the Non-Executive Chairman of IFCI. Currently, he is functioning as Vice Chairman, Karnataka State Higher Education Council.

Mr. Abraham Chacko, Independent Director

Mr. Abraham Chacko is a Banker with 38 years of experience in MNC banks in India and Overseas and a Private Sector Bank in India. He is a post graduate in business management from XLRI. Mr. Chacko has worked for over 30 years in the banking industry, starting as a Management Trainee in HSBC in India and the last 18 years with ABN AMRO in various countries, Executive Director of Federal Bank. His experience lies mainly in areas of wholesale Banking, Transaction Banking and Financial Institutions. Mr. Chacko has been credited with leading the computerization of HSBC's operations in Kolkata and also for opening the first ATM in the eastern part of the country. His focus in Federal Bank would be on Corporate Banking, Treasury, SME and new streams of Syndication, Debt markets and other strategic opportunities.

Mrs. Rajalakshmi Ambady- Independent Director

Mrs. Rajalakshmi Ambady has 32 years of experience in the regulation and supervision of the Indian banking industry at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from where she retired as General Manager in June 2015.

Post retirement from RBI, she joined the Society for Service to Voluntary Agencies which is an NGO functioning to uplift the lower strata of the society through education and yoga in Mumbai, Pune and Kutch, Gujarat. She joined as a volunteer looking after the scholarship program in a few schools. Currently, she is a Trustee and the President of the organization.

• Seven years’ experience in the Department of Banking Supervision
• She has led teams of up to 12 people for the annual financial inspections of State Bank of Saurashtra (pre-merger), HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank as Principal Inspecting Officer
• Off-site supervision of these banks requiring analysis of balance sheets and other data, examination of stressed assets and dealing with frauds and complaints
• Represented RBI at the Supervisory College of Standard Chartered Bank including the Crisis Management Group which discussed issues such as Recovery

• 11 years’ experience in the Foreign Exchange Department of RBI in the Risk Management and trade divisions
• Expertise in foreign exchange governance, controls and risk management, forex derivative transactions etc.
• Overall knowledge of FEMA Regulations and supervision of these regulations in the banks

Mr. Gopalakrishnan S, Chief Financial Officer

Mr Gopalakrishnan is a Chartered Accountant with about 39 years of experience in finance, credit underwriting. His key strength lies in liaising with banks, lending institutions, regulatory authorities and team building. Gopal held various senior positions in finance in Andhra Bank, Narasus Coffee Co., Weizmann Homes and Sai India. He was formerly Chief Financial Officer of Janalakshmi Financial Services Ltd and played a pivotal role in the exponential growth that led to Janalakshmi becoming a Small Finance Bank in 2018. Gopal was accredited as one of the most influential CFOs of India in July 2015 by Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Ms Vidya Sridharan, Company Secretary

Ms Vidya Sridharan is a Company Secretary with over nine years of experience in the field of Company Secretarial, Finance, Legal functions. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Bangalore University, Bachelor of Law from Karnataka State Law University, and is a Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI). She possesses experience in working with various industries such as Infrastructure, Pharmaceutical, Software, Real Estate and Manufacturing. Before joining the Company, she worked with companies such as Hewlett Packard, Bal Pharma Limited, TATA Advanced Materials Limited, ADD Groups (formerly Subhash Projects and Marketing Limited) and Citrus Ventures Private Limited. She is an active member of the ICSI contributing to the Articles in Chartered Secretary magazine. She deliver talks regularly on various topics of the Companies Act 2013 in students study sessions and actively participates in various group discussions among CSs.