If banking is all about numbers, funding entrepreneurship and financial inclusion, Kamalesh Chandra Chakrabarty, 57, is well equipped for his new assignment. Earlier this week, the Prime Minister?s Office cleared Punjab National Bank chairman Kamalesh Chandra Chakrabarty?s name for the post of deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India, a post that has been lying vacant since December 2008 when V Leeladhar retired.

Chakrabarty, a gold medallist in MSc (Statistics) from the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, was a teacher for seven years in the same university before becoming a banker. He joined Bank of Baroda (BoB) as a planning officer in 1978, progressed to the post of general manager of the bank in a short span and was posted as the chief of the bank?s London operations.

Though stationed at Baroda till he became a deputy general manager, Chakrabarty would be spending most of his time with the chairman and managing director of the bank at its head office in Ballard Pier in Mumbai, busy devising strategies for the bank. One would never meet the then BoB CMD, K Kanan without having Chakrabarty firmly ensconced in a chair near him; nor would Kanan ever announce the bank?s results without Chakrabarty first giving a presentation and explaining the numbers to the media.

Being in charge of key departments at BoB such as corporate planning, MIS, economic research and IT, resource management, integrated treasury function and corporate risk management from the beginning, Chakrabarty contributed enormously to BoB?s growth; analysts say with that kind of macro and micro exposure, Chakrabarty?s foundation as a banker was formidable.

Banking industry experts say Chakrabarty has the ability to function in adverse circumstances and experiment with new ideas which others may not find business worthy. Once in London, all his staffers including foreign personnel threatened to go on strike if they were not given pay hikes. Chakrabarty refused to budge and had to manage the bank?s operations single-handedly in a place like London!

Ultimately the strike was withdrawn.

Much before the concept of financial inclusion was talked about by the Reserve Bank of India for the upliftment of people below poverty line, Chakrabarty as the head of Indian Bank, had undertaken a pilot project on financial inclusion in Pondicherry.

Again, taking a lead on the issue of ?banking for the bottom of the pyramid?? he opened a branch of Indian Bank at Mumbai?s Dharavi area, Asia?s largest slum. Business-wise, the branch was a huge success, and subsequently other banks followed suit. ?We depend on the poor and not vice-versa. Financial inclusion doesn?t just mean opening an account, but the depositor should be given access to credit as well,? he says.

Indian Bank, once a fit case for liquidation after the non-performing assets wiped out its networth in the late nineties and which survived mostly on government funds, went for its initial public offering (IPO) under Chakrabarty?s stewardship. Needless to say Chakrabarty?s predecessor Ranjana Kumar had contributed a lot in reviving the bank. Even Punjab National Bank (PNB) has doubled its profit in record two years after Chakrabarty joined the bank. ?For us at PNB,

NPA stands for non-performing administration and not just non-performing assets,?? he says in a lighter vein.

Observers predict many such new definitions in the banking industry after he steps into the regulator?s shoe.