Inside Vaidyanathan’s comeback as a retail banker

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Editor's note: If there were any doubts about V. Vaidyanathan’s banking credentials when he took charge as the CEO and managing director of IDFC First Bank in December 2018, after the merger of IDFC Bank with Capital First, he seems to have dispelled them. Or, at least most of them. When he took the reins of the bank, there were several legacy problems. For instance, even though IDFC Bank came to the table with a loan book of Rs 75,332 crore, about 2.3 times that of Capital First, 72% of it was on the wholesale side, with exposure to stressed entities like Dewan Housing Finance, Vodafone, Reliance Capital and the Future Group. And, overall, the merged entity suffered from poor profitability.  Vaidyanathan drew up a list of issues and set targets to improve the bank’s numbers over the next 6-7 years. The targets included 21 key metrics for the bank, and himself. The deadlines to meet these targets were set for 2023-24 and 2024-25. Three and a half years on, Vaidyanathan has met most of his targets. Take risk mitigation. At the …