Ms. Kalita is an experienced development banker with an experience of over 33 years in the Banking and Financial Services sector. She has 20 years of experience in Retail Banking in Langpi Dehangi Rural Bank during her tenure as Senior Manager in the bank. Ms. Kalita, has to her credit, a degree from Boulder Institute of Microfinance, Turin, Italy besides various other certifications from different institutions. She has been trained in Microfinance from Basix and have exposures to ASA, BRAC premier institutions in Bangladesh and in Amana Ikhtiar, Malaysia, Bank Patanian and Bank Simpanan, Malaysia, to name a few. She has also attended a certificate course on Strategic Leadership in Financial Inclusion in HARVARD, USA in March 2016.
Ms. Kalita joined the RGVN Society to head its microfinance programme in 2004 and was instrumental in successfully turning around the operations of a loss making RGVN-CSP into a profitable NBFC within a period of 2 years by streamlining the existing processes, instilling financial discipline and boosting the staff morale. She was instrumental in reducing the Portfolio at Risk (>30days) from a whopping 23% to 1.09% in FY 2016-2017 and also in reaching out to a total of 4.07 Lakh clients during the same period as against 30,939 in 2004. The expansion of outreach of the RGVN (NE) MFL to 7 states of North East and West Bengal, with a network of 139 branches in 2017 and the consistent growth in the business with a total portfolio outstanding of Rs. 688 crore as on March 31st, 2017 as against Rs. 40 Lakh in 2005, has only been possible for her able leadership. She has been working for the empowerment of the under privileged women in rural and urban sector through financial intermediation by persistently encouraging them to build up their confidence and to emerge as successful entrepreneurs.
She has been heading RGVN (NE) MFL since its inception, however recently has moved to North East Small Finance Bank Limited [“Subsidiary of RGVN (NE) MFL”] as a Managing Director & CEO to lead the Small Finance bank Business.
It is under her guidance and due to her persistent efforts that RGVN (NE) MFL was awarded the coveted “In Principle Approval” on September 16, 2015 for the establishment of Small Finance Bank. It is by dint of her hard work and dedication that RGVN (NE) MFL, had undergone major transformations within a decade and has awarded with the Final Banking Licence on March 31, 2017 and has commenced its Banking Business on October 17, 2017 by folding its lending activities into NORTH EAST SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED.
Mr. Rajan Bajaj is the Founder and CEO of Slice, India’s leading consumer payments and lending company since 2016. An alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, Rajan’s vision is to redesign and create a transformative and seamless financial experience for today's generation, who hold immense promise for the future. Today, slice boasts an impressive user base of over 14 million registered individuals nationwide, with an average age of 27, solidifying its position as one of the country's leading payments start-ups. Guiding a strong and relentless team of 1000+, Rajan has spearheaded the fintech unicorn over the last 7 years, enabling seamless bill payments, lending services, expense management, and exciting rewards. Rajan’s bullishness on the Indian fintech landscape led him to create and deliver products at par with some of the best global consumer payments solutions. Prior to founding slice, Rajan made significant contributions to Flipkart's product team, working in their marketplace team during its early stages. This segment quickly became the fastest-growing business unit and a key focus for Flipkart. Rajan's audacious goals and plans are to leverage today’s evolving technology and get the opportunity to create a “customer experience obsessed”, AI and digital first bank.
Gautam Barua is currently the Director of Indian Institute of Information Technology Guwahati and Professor of Computer Science and Engineering. He was the Director IIT Guwahati from 2003 till 2013 and is currently on deputation from there. He was also the officiating Director of NIT Silchar during 2003-2005, and the Mentor Director of IIT Patna in 2008-09. He was at IIT Kanpur from 1982 till 1995. He graduated from IIT Bombay with B.Tech and M.Tech degrees in Electrical Engineering. He obtained a PhD degree in Computer Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA in 1981. His areas of interest are Operating Systems and Networks. He is an IT consultant to the Govt. of Assam and to a number of public enterprises.