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Illustration: David Manion |
Rana Kapoor is relaxing in the main offices of the London School of Economics when we meet. It is the day after the UK has voted in a referendum to leave the European Union – a decision he believes will prove to be good for both the UK and India – but at the moment he has other things on his mind.
Yes Bank, the private-sector lender he founded in 2004 and still oversees as its managing director and chief executive officer, has pledged £1 million to the LSE to support the IG Patel Chair, named after the man who saw the Reserve Bank of India through tough times in the late 1970s.
His daughter Roshini is set to graduate from the London Business School and, like a good father, he wanted to celebrate in person. After our meeting, he will lecture at the LSE’s annual India Forum, extolling the virtues of the world’s fastest growing big economy.
Then there is the Euromoney award he will receive at a ceremony at the Tower of London. Yes Bank’s nomination as Asia’s best bank for corporate and social responsibility in Asia for 2016 was well earned.
