Odisha-Born Banker AP Hota Appointed Part-Time Chairman Of Federal Bank

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the appointment of Abhay Prasad Hota as part-time Chairman of Federal Bank from June 29, 2023, to January 14, 2026.

He was serving as an independent director on the Board of the Bank since January 15, 2018, the lender said in a press release.

Hota has 27 years of experience in the Reserve Bank between 1982 and 2009. While at the RBI, he served as Nominee Director to the Board of Vijaya Bank and subsequently Andhra Bank. He was the architect of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and served as its Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) between 2009 and 2017.

He grew up in Odisha’s Kalahandi. He initially studied science, but switched to arts and did his masters in literature from Sambalpur University. He wanted to join the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and become a district magistrate. When he was
not selected for the IAS, he joined the government-owned Steel Authority of India (Sail) in 1980, where he dealt with contract labour at the company’s steel plant at Durgapur in West Bengal.

Inspired by a friend, who was working with RBI, Hota joined the central bank’s office in Kolkata in September 1982 and served in the currency management division. After four years, he was transferred as a manager in the technology department. In 1991, Hota was picked by the RBI central office in Mumbai to lead the electronic payment projects there as manager. He quickly rose in ranks and was appointed as a project officer to oversee all electronic payments—electronic clearing system (ECS) and electronic funds transfer (EFT) — towards the end of his term.

From 1999 to 2002, Hota was put in charge of the RBI’s Mumbai clearing house operations. When NPCI was formed, as an umbrella organisation for all retail payments systems in India, he was sent there on deputation from RBI in February 2009. He retired from NPCI in August 2017.

(With inputs from Forbes India)