N Vaghul, Veteran Behind ICICI Bank, Passes Away At 88

Narayanan Vaghul, former chairman of ICICI Bank and legendary banker has passed away at the age of 88, according to a statement.

Vaghul had been on a ventilator in critical condition till earlier today. In a statement to NDTV Profit, his mentee and Founder of GiveIndia Venkat Krishnan said that Vaghul was taken off the ventilator and declared deceased at 12:38 pm.

In a storied career, Vaghul has served at some of India's largest financial institutions. He took over as chairman and managing director at Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India in 1985. The development finance institution incubated ICICI Bank, under Vaghul's stewardship. In 2002, ICICI was merged into the bank to create one institution.

After having stepped down from executive positions in 1996, Vaghul was non-executive chairman of ICICI Bank till 2009.

During the early phase of his career, Vaghul worked at State Bank of India in its Chennai and Mumbai offices. He has also served as director of National Institute of Bank Management and as executive director at Central Bank of India.

He then was appointed as chairman and managing director of Bank of India at the age of 44, the youngest person to lead a bank at that time.

It was former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who appointed Vaghul at ICICI in its DFI avatar.

In 2023, Vaghul penned his memoir 'Reflections', where he described multiple annecdotes from his life as a banker dealing with the government.