Raul is a career banker with extensive experience in the domain of Rural Banking and Financial Inclusion. He joined Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Limited on 1st September 2021 as the Chief Operating Officer of the Company. Over the past 19 months, he has capably led the growth and transformation journey at Mahindra Finance, demonstrating strong leadership. Prior to joining Mahindra Finance, he was with Axis Bank as EVP & Head – Rural Lending & Financial Inclusion.

In his 19 years stint with Axis Bank, he led key businesses including Rural Lending, Farmer Funding, Gold Loans, MSME lending, Commodity Loans, Tractor & Farm Equipment Lending, Agri-Value chain Deposits, Payments & Insurance. He also led the Business correspondent channel including 15,000+ partner outlets and the Micro-ATM channel of the Bank. He played a pivotal role to increase the Banks Distribution in Rural and Semi –Urban areas through light format Banking outlets, Micro-ATMs and Rural ecosystem partnerships.

He is credited with several transformational interventions viz. introducing various end-to-end digital initiatives and paperless loan journeys for low-income households, besides launching suitable phygital tools and customer journeys including Aadhar Pay. Under his leadership, Axis Bank has won the prestigious Financial Inclusion Award at the Asian Banking and Finance Awards in 2019 and 2021.