Nationality Indian Role Business executive | Name M. Damodaran Occupation Administrator | |
Former SEBI Chief M Damodaran On Big Bank Clean Up | India Development Debate Direct
Mr. M. Damodaran is an eminent Indian Corporate advisor and mentor and a former government official. He is the founder Chairperson of Excellence Enablers Private Limited, a niche Corporate Governance advisory firm and the Founder and Managing Trustee of Non Executive Directors in Conversation Trust (NEDICT), an exclusive forum for Non-Executive Directors.
Contents
- Former SEBI Chief M Damodaran On Big Bank Clean Up India Development Debate Direct
- Uday Kotak In A Chat With Anand Mahindra M Damodaran On Corporate Governance
- Awards Recognition
- Early life
- Career
- Select Boards and Affiliations
- References
He served as the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI), India's securities markets regulator from February, 2005 to February, 2008. Prior to this, he served as the Chairman of Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), a development finance institution which he converted to a bank. He was also Chairman of Unit Trust of India (UTI), then India's largest mutual fund, from July, 2001 to December, 2004 during which period he scripted and executed its revival story.
He was an officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Manipur-Tripura cadre, which is the premier civil service of the Government of India, and served as Joint Secretary of the Banking Division in Ministry of Finance (India) for five years. He is a Director on the Boards of Larsen & Toubro, Hero MotoCorp, Tech Mahindra, CRISIL, Biocon and Experian India.
Uday Kotak In A Chat With Anand Mahindra, M Damodaran On Corporate Governance
Awards & Recognition
- Life Time Achievement Award in Ethical Governance and Leadership by Asian Centre for Corporate Governance and Sustainability (2015)
- Life Time Achievement Award in Public Governance by Asian Centre for Corporate Governance and Sustainability (2013)
- Corporate Excellence for Policy Change Agent of the Year (2006-07) by Economic Times
- India Business Leaders Award (2006) for Outstanding Contribution to the Cause of Indian Business by CNBC
- Public Service Excellence Award (2009) by All India Management Association
- Finance Man of the Year (2004) by Bombay Management Association, Association of Leasing and Financial Service Companies of India, Association of Merchant Bankers of India, Association of Mutual Funds in India, Finance Industry Development Council, Indian Merchant’s Chambers and Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India
- Centenarian Professional Excellence Award (2005)
- National Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Public Service (2004) by Priyadarshini Academy at their 20th Anniversary Global Awards Function
- Golden Peacock Award for Leadership in Corporate Transformation (2003)
Early life
Meleveetil Damodaran was born in Palakkad district, Kerala, India in May, 1947. After topping Campion High School, Tiruchirapalli, and completing his pre-university in Loyola College, Chennai, he spent a little over 2 years at Indian Institute of Technology Madras before discovering that he was not cut out to be an engineer. He then graduated with distinction in Economics and Law from the Universities of Madras and Delhi respectively.
Career
After 6 months each as a Probationary Officer in Indian Bank and State Bank of India, he joined the IAS - 1971 batch - in the Indian state of Tripura, where he served in different developmental and regulatory positions. He was appointed Tripura’s Chief Secretary in 1992, when he became the youngest person ever in India to hold such a position in a State Government.
In 2001, he was appointed the Chairman of UTI to rescue India’s largest and oldest investment institution, which had collapsed. He restored UTI to health in arguably the most successful turnaround story in Indian financial sector history. He was simultaneously given charge of IDBI, another of India’s major financial institutions. Here, he created the Stressed Assets Stabilisation Fund, which helped clean IDBI’s books, facilitating its conversion to a commercial bank and its merger with another bank.
As Chairman of SEBI, he brought improved corporate governance practices to India’s securities market. Among his many contributions was the introduction of QIP, an instrument for follow on offerings which until then was going to external markets.While at SEBI, he was elected Chairman of the Emerging Markets Committee of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO),[5] a position he held till he demitted office as Chairman, SEBI. He was the Chairman of Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ Committee for Reforming the Regulatory Environment for facilitating the ease of doing Business in India.
He was also the Chairman of Reserve Bank of India’s Committee on Customer Service in Banks. He chaired the Taskforce on Corporate Governance constituted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).