Meet Ajay Banga: First Indian World Bank Head Nominee!

Ajaypal Singh Banga, popularly known as Ajay Banga is an Indian-American business executive who is currently working as Vice Chairman at General Atlantic. Prior to his current stint, Banga served in the capacity of the executive chairman and Chief executive officer (CEO) of Mastercard, the global financial services behemoth.

On February 23rd, 2023, Banga was nominated by US President Joe Biden to lead the World Bank, the international financial institution. If nominated, Banga will hold the distinction of becoming the first Indian-American to head the World Bank.

Physical Stats

Ajay Banga Family

Born on November 10, 1959, Banga hails from a Saini Sikh family. His father Harbhajan Singh Banga worked as an officer with Indian Army and his posting was in the Khadki cantonment of Pune, Maharashtra where Banga was born.

Banga’s father is a retired lieutenant-general and his family has roots in Jalandhar, Punjab. Ajay’s brother M. S. Banga is an Indian businessman and senior partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, an American private equity company. 

Relationships

Ajay Banga met his wife Ritu while they were studying at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. Later, the couple got married and have two daughters Aditi and Jojo.

Ajay Banga Education

Ajay Banga did his schooling at St. Edward’s School, Shimla, and the Hyderabad Public School in Hyderabad. To pursue further studies, he enrolled at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and earned a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Economics.

Later, Banga joined IIM, Ahmedabad, and completed his PGP in Management (equivalent to MBA).

Controversies

In February 2022, Banga withdrew from Libra, the cryptocurrency created by Facebook. Following his decision, the then-Mastercard CEO mentioned in an interview that Libra’s leaders wouldn’t commit to observing laws.

He was skeptical about how the digital currency would generate money and stated that when you are not clear about how money is made, it will be made in ways you don’t like. In fact, Banga was shocked by the social media giant’s decision to store the coins in its Calibra digital wallets.

Tattoos

There is no information available in the public domain regarding whether Banga has inked any body tattoos.

Ajay Banga Profession

In 1981, Banga started his career by joining Nestle, the Swiss foods and beverages major. During his stint there, Banga worked in multiple domains such as sales, marketing, and general management and continued his association with the organization for a long 13 years.

Later, he joined Pepsico and played an integral role in launching the global food and drinks giant’s fast-food franchises in the country during the time of economic liberalization.

In 1996, Banga joined Citigroup and worked in diverse top-level roles. It ranged from Chairman and Chief executive officer of the International Global Consumer Group; President of Retail Banking North America and Business head for CitiFinancial and the U.S. Consumer Assets Division. 

In August 2009, the high-profile executive joined MasterCard as its President and Chief  Operating Officer (COO). Banga’s growth was pretty fast and he was named the President and CEO of the company in April 2010.

He worked in this role until December 31, 2020. After retiring from this position, Banga went on to join General Atlantic for an astronomical pay package of $27.77 million. He also serves as Chairman of Exor, the Netherlands-based investment holding company, and Chairman of the public-private Partnership for Central America with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

Banga is a recipient of the Padma Shri award and got the award in 2016.

Ajay Banga Source Of Income

According to CNBC as of 2021, his net worth stood at 206 million US dollars. 

Lesser Known Facts About Ajay Banga

• Banga loves to read. Due to his frequent travels, he reads a lot and feels that he is becoming a nerd. As he gets older, his reading has become serious.

• He has kept it a rule that he should respond to both phone calls and emails within 24 hours.

• Banga enjoys listening to music and a typical day starts with kirtans. However, he is more passionate about jazz whether it is in the office or somewhere else. His favorite musicians are AR Rehman and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

• He found the Hindi movie Lagaan “terrific”.

• Earlier people tend to mistake Ajay for his brother at airports, on the street, and in the office. However, nowadays there are no such problems as Ajay wears a turban and has a beard in sharp contrast to his brother who spots a mustache and has a  hairline that has receded.

• Except for occasional sleepless nights, Ajay sleeps fabulously. He says that he can sleep anywhere, an old talent he picked up in his sales career.
• Banga was a part of US President Barack Obama’s Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity.

• According to him, the most interesting cities in the world are London and New York.

• Both Ajay and his brother M. S. Banga went to IIM – Ahmedabad. One more coincidence is that both of them started their career in the same FMCG industry as well.

• While delivering a lecture to students at NYU Stern in 2014, a business college, Banga humorously remarked that he enjoyed his time at IIM-A “perhaps a little too much!”

• Banga loves living abroad and cannot think of returning to India for work purposes. His family has been living overseas for many years and Banga does not think they will be able to adjust to living in India. 

• In 1998, the Banga brothers were living in London. It had been a long time since both of them lived in the same city. Ajay recollects that it was quite funny when both of them met each other while going to their offices.

• Though he enjoyed working in India, he is of the opinion that working overseas is great just for the simple reason that it is a “bigger world outside.”

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