Share the article
twitter-iconcopy-link-iconprint-icon
share-icon
Asia-PacificOctober 3 2004

Meelivitayil Damodaran

Chairman and Managing Director, Industrial Development Bank of India
Share the article
twitter-iconcopy-link-iconprint-icon
share-icon

A career bureaucrat who says he moved to Mumbai from his job at the finance ministry in New Delhi because the political capital was “too crowded”, Mr Damodaran is the government’s trusted trouble-shooter. Sent in to restructure and turn around UTI, when the 36-year-old state-controlled asset manager faced its worst crisis, Mr Damodaran showed that the government meant business. He firmly believes state-controlled institutions can be professionally run and can compete with the best in the private sector. Even sceptics concede that the persuasive Mr Damodaran has done a fair job.

He has moved on to a fresh challenge since then: to revitalise another rusting state financial institution, the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI). On the cards is the transformation of IDBI into a commercial bank, either by way of a merger with a large state bank or a merger with its own banking arm. Mr Damodaran has already kicked off an aggressive expansion of IDBI’s shrinking asset base. He also plays a key role in the negotiations over the stalled $3bn Dabhol power project in western India, billed as India’s biggest investment by foreign entities. IDBI is the largest lender to the ill-fated power plant, promoted by Enron and now owned by General Electric and Bechtel, and Mr Damodaran is leading the negotiations between Indian creditors and foreign lenders such as ABN AMRO and Bank of America.

Was this article helpful?

Thank you for your feedback!

Read more about:  Asia-Pacific , India