In the limelight. Citi ‘lad’ from Madurai

He comes from a distinguished family that is traditionally rich, yet simple and grounded. Meet Anand Selvakesari, who was promoted last week as Chief Operating Officer at Citigroup. Selvakesari will remain head of personal banking and wealth management in addition to his COO position.

Citibank picked the young lad from Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 32 years ago and he has not looked back since. A product of Madurai’s well-known Vikaasa School, Selvakesari went on to earn an engineering degree from Coimbatore Institute of Technology and an MBA from Thiagarajar School of Management, Madurai.

Hard-working and amiable, Selvakesari quickly rose up the ranks in Citibank. “He can get along with just anybody,” says his classmate from school. Another classmate who has followed his career path closely remarked that Citi sees him as a troubleshooter and an achiever who can get things done. Indeed, Selvakesari built up Citi’s consumer banking business in Taiwan and China, where he created an excellent card franchise for the bank.

Selvakesari moved back to India in 2011 when the bank’s credit card business was under attack from the new-age Indian banks. He rebuilt Citi’s once high-flying credit card business with strategic products such as the Citibank-Jet Privilege card, which soon morphed into the successful Citi Premier Miles card. It is ironic that Selvakesari, an out-and-out consumer banking specialist, should take charge as COO at a time when Citi is exiting the consumer banking and credit card business in India that he helped build.

Hailing from the Nattukottai Nagarathar clan, commonly known as Chettiars, money and banking obviously runs in his blood. But, interestingly, his grandfather was a journalist running a Tamil newspaper, Veerakesari, in Colombo in the 1940s. Selvakesari’s close friend (as also classmate and roommate) from college describes him as humble and down to earth. “I don’t think he has hurt anybody wilfully in the 38 years that I’ve known him,” he says.

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According to the friend, Selvakesari remained focused and immune to diversions during his college days. A keen sports lover who could also draw well, Selvakesari represented his school and, later, college in basketball. Someone who plays strictly by the rules, Selvakesari is God-fearing. He is deeply into philanthropy and volunteers at the Mata Amritanandamayi Math in Kerala every year. And he never fails to visit his parents in Madurai at least twice a year, no matter which part of the world he’s posted in.

I met Selvakesari professionally for the first time more than a decade ago and was struck by his simple demeanour, used as journalists are to bombastic bankers. He was the atypical MNC executive with no airs about him. The word ‘selvam’ in Tamil means wealth. There’s no doubt that Selvakesari is indeed Citi’s Selva(m)! Hopefully, the next step to the top will not be long in coming.