Jairam Sridharan has steered Piramal Finance through a period of rapid growth and transformation, reshaping it into a diversified, technology-led, retail-focused NBFC. Over the past four years, the company’s retail book has expanded from ~₹5,300 crore to nearly ₹72,000 crore, its branch network has grown from 14 to 517, and its employee base has increased from 1,500 to over 15,500. This scale-up has been powered by the company’s ‘High Tech + High Touch’ strategy, which blends advanced cloud and AI capabilities with a deep physical distribution network to deliver scale with precision.
Jairam joined Piramal Finance in 2020 as Managing Director for the Retail Lending business, where he spearheaded the scale-up of the retail franchise. Following the merger of Piramal Enterprises Limited and Piramal Finance Limited in 2025, he assumed charge as MD & CEO of the merged entity, driving its unified strategy and growth agenda.
With over two decades of experience in building and scaling financial services businesses, Jairam brings deep domain expertise and a proven track record of driving strategic growth across institutions. Prior to joining Piramal Finance, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Axis Bank, where he also held several leadership roles including President – Retail Lending & Payments. He led one of the bank’s most transformative growth phases, driving a sixfold expansion of the retail book in five years and positioning Axis among India’s top five retail lenders.
Earlier, he led ‘New to Credit’ Card Acquisitions at Capital One Financial in the US Cards Business, based in Richmond, VA. He began his career at ICICI Bank, where he was part of the pioneering team that built its retail lending business, heading the Business Intelligence Unit.
Jairam holds a B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from IIT Delhi and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM Calcutta, where he was awarded the Roll of Honour for academic excellence.
His leadership has been widely recognised: he was named ‘FE Pillar of the BFSI Industry’ (2022), Best CFO by Institutional Investor (2019), and featured in The Economic Times ‘40 Under 40’ list of India’s hottest business leaders (2015).
