People: Sanjay Nair

A chartered and cost accountant by qualification, Sanjay Nair has never worked in accounting and finance functions in his nearly two-decade-old career. He was appointed as the chief executive of HSBC InvestDirect in India in December 2011, after working with HSBC in different capacities for nearly a decade. HSBC InvestDirect, a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings, offers retail broking services in India through its 49 branches and 78 franchises across the country. “I started my career with Ashok Leyland and moved to Crisil. At that time research was still at a very nascent stage in India. But I really enjoyed my work there. It was great fun, almost like going back to college,” Nair said.

An alumnus of Narsee Monjee, Nair joined HSBC's retail lending division in 2002. He soon moved as an instructor in the bank's management training college in London. Nair said during his stint as an instructor he got a sense of HSBC's claim of being 'the world's local bank' as he had to move from one country to another. “It was a job that required a lot of travelling. But it was great experience. I saw almost the entire world and the tremendous expanse of the HSBC group,” he said.

He came back to India in 2005 as head of strategy and planning of HSBC's retail banking business. It was the time when the bank was aggressively expanding its retail footprint in India. Nair candidly admits that HSBC like many of its peers went for unbridled expansion that later led to deterioration in the quality of assets.

“Most banks made mistakes, we also did. But that experience has taught me how to scale up business in a measured manner,” he said.

Before taking charge of HSBC InvestDirect, Nair was heading HSBC's offshore global NRI (non-resident Indian) business.

Nair prefers to unwind by listening to Hindustani classical music or watching Marlon Brando's movies. A follower of English football, Nair says his support for Arsenal Football Club and its manager Arsene Wenger has not been waning despite the club's poor performance in the league so far this season.