Mr. N. Vaghul - Chairman, ICICI Bank

Mr. Vaghul has 49 years of experience in the financial sector and has been the Chairman of Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Limited for 16 years, and of ICICI Bank for the last three years. Prior to this, he was Chairman of the Bank of India and Executive Director of the Central Bank of India. He was chosen as the Businessman of the Year in 1992 by Business India, a leading Indian publication, and has served as a consultant to the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the Asian Development Bank. Mr. Vaghul was also a visiting Professor at the Stern Business School at New York University. Mr. Vaghul is Chairman of the Indian Institute of Finance Management & Research and is also a board member of various other companies, including Wipro Limited, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, Nicholas Piramal India Limited, Apollo Hospitals Limited and Himatsingka Seide Limited.

Excerpt from the interview:

Prasad: Can you think of any defining moments or experiences that shaped you or ignite you?

Vagul: So many things happened which I least expected. I never expected to get out of State Bank and thought I will end up my career there in State Bank. I was conditioned, being born in South India, 'South Indian Brahmin' they call us, we are not adventurous by any chance. We get stuck. First 20 years in State Bank, I never expected to move out. When I did, the move was to the academics. An interesting move which I did not anticipate. I was wondering why it happened. My mentor told me that I should do a one-year sabbatical. I heard people tell me that he was trying to sideline me. I never questioned, I went there (to the institution). I became the chief of that institution in one year’s time. To head an institution at the age of 37 or so is something that is out of the ordinary.

Then things started happening very fast. I don’t know how. I was appointed in Central Bank and then Bank of India. There was a defining moment in Bank of India when I felt at the age of 46 that I should spend the rest of my life in pursuit of spiritual matters. That is one decision that I took. I mean it was not a call on me, it was a call from inside you could say. What facilitated that thought process was that my children had gone abroad and my wife and I were the only people here (in India), and I had completed one tenure at BOI. The question was whether I should accept another tenure or I should just call it a day. So I decided to call it a day. I came here (Chennai).

Then there was a defining moment a couple of years later when I got appointed in ICICI. When the call came, I thought I was ready for it and moved in. The rest of it all, in once sense, is because of your conditioning. What you have learned and what you have been taught, comes in handy. My sole concern was - let me do my best. There were certain basic foundations, whatever you do, do it for the organization, for humanity but not for yourself. Second was I tried to get away from negative emotions, anger, jealousy – cultivate positive feelings – love, compassion. I never thought in work situation I would operate differently and in personal life I would operate differently – they are one continuum. In personal life, if I am in meditation and as a part of the meditation there is a prelude to that meditation, I have to observe certain discipline, the same discipline I have to observe in the office. And that becomes the basic pattern of your life.