Abstract

The case describes the responsible leadership and vision of Rana Kapoor, Managing Director and CEO of India-based Yes Bank, which enabled the bank achieve several milestones both in business and sustainability parameters. Since the inception of the bank, Kapoor had proved his exceptional leadership not only in terms of the business performance of the bank, but also in the way the bank mainstreamed sustainable development, sustainable investing, corporate social responsibility, and environmental stewardship as its business development goals. His holistic responsible banking and knowledge-driven approach and focus on sustainable investment created sustained value for its stakeholders, through social, economic, and environmental dimensions. This differentiated approach created a paradigm in the Indian banking sector through continuous innovation and excellence, in the process winning Kapoor several awards and accolades, both nationally and globally. Kapoor, credited with establishing the credentials of Yes Bank, was likely to step down by January 2019. Despite the bank shareholders giving their approval for Kapoor’s re-appointment for another three years, India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), decided to limit his tenure and asked the Board to find a successor. Kapoor had earned the ire of the RBI as the bank had wrongly classified loans which should have counted as non-performing. Though the bank decided to elevate senior group presidents Rajat Monga and Pralay Mondal as executive directors in order to ensure a smooth transition, the fact that Kapoor would not be playing an active role cast doubts on the bank’s future performance. Following the RBI’s action, investors were concerned over the uncertainty surrounding the bank’s leadership, which could impact its growth prospects. Going forward, it remained to be seen whether the new CEO would be able to carry on with the existing strategy of the bank.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the significance of responsible leadership in the private financial sector.
• Analyze how responsible leadership can make a difference in the banking sector and provide long-term advantage to the banks.
• Examine how responsible leaders in the financing industry are accountable to different stakeholders, especially the sector regulator.
• Understand the issues and challenges faced by banks after the departure of promoter-driven leaders.
• Discuss and debate whether private sector banks should go in for changing their promoter-driven leaders amid allegations against them by the industry regulator.

Keywords

Responsible leadership; Responsible banking; Thought leadership; Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance; Sustainable finance; Sustainability reporting; Financial inclusion and inclusive growth; Communicating sustainability