Current Directors

Mr. Palash Srivastava is a distinguished leader in infrastructure financing, with nearly three decades of expertise in public-private partnerships (PPPs), structured finance, and capacity building. Throughout his career, he has been instrumental in project appraisal, long-term financing, and structuring investments for large-scale infrastructure projects spanning roads, ports, airports, railways, urban transport, water supply, and solid waste management. His expertise extends across emerging sectors such as aerospace, space, agriculture warehousing, industrial parks, special economic zones (SEZs), IT infrastructure, real estate, healthcare, and tourism. At IIFCL, he is instrumental in driving long-term project financing, facilitating private sector participation through structured lending, and ensuring the successful execution of critical infrastructure projects. He has played a crucial role in shaping national infrastructure policies, contributing to the National PPP Capacity Building Programme, the Working Group for Financing Urbanization-The 12th Plan, the Rakesh Mohan Committee for Transportation, and the Kelkar Committee on Revisiting and Revitalizing the PPP Model of Infrastructure Development. He played a key role in formulating an Environmental Rating Standard for infrastructure projects to facilitate Green Financing which was launched at COP 21. He has also pioneered Structured financial solutions and managed syndication for large-scale infrastructure developments Prior to joining IIFCL, he held key leadership positions at organizations including IIFCL Projects Ltd (IPL), IDFC Group, CRISIL, Feedback Ventures, IL&FS, and Aditya Birla Group. Beyond his corporate roles, he has also served on the boards of multiple infrastructure development companies. He holds an MBA from RA Podar Institute of Management, Mumbai, and a Civil Engineering degree from Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT), Jaipur.

Mr. Surjith Karthikeyan, Director, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, is an officer of Indian Economic Service (2010 batch). Mr. Karthikeyan holds Master in Public Administration from National University of Singapore, Master of Arts in Economics from Kerala University, and National Eligibility Test (NET) with Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) from University Grants Commission (UGC). Earlier, he had served in Financial Stability & Development Council (FSDC) of Ministry of Finance, as member in inter-regulatory groups of FSDC, and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India. Shri Karthikeyan represented India in the Financial Stability Board (FSB) Working Group of G20 Countries during 2018 - 2021. He received appreciation letter from Director General, Computer Emergency Response Team in India (CERT-In) for his outstanding contribution to CERT-Finance architecture. Mr. Karthikeyan also had a short stint as Deputy Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs for India G20 Summit during the year 2023. He has authored several Books which include ‘Disruptive Technology: Public Policy Toolkit for India’, ‘Global health Challenges: An Indian perspective’, etc; and contributed to leading economic dailies/journals on a wide range of subjects. Besides India Infrastructure Finance Company (UK) Limited, Mr. Karthikeyan is on the Board of National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Limited, Kerala Gramin Bank and Trustee on the Board of NPS Trust.

Dr. Anand Kumar has over three decades in international banking / insurance domain across different geographies such as United Kingdom, India, Singapore and GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries. He is a Charted Fellow (Chartered FCSI) and presently on Boards of Union Bank of India (UK) Ltd., First Microfinance Bank, Afghanistan and on the Board of Association of Foreign Banks, London, UK. Prior to his Non-Executive Board assignments, Dr. Kumar worked as Executive Director & Deputy Chief Executive with UBI (UK). Among other assignments he has contributed in setting up Retail and Banking operations of ICICI Bank in UK and spearheaded international business of ICICI Lombard General Insurance Services (Company) UK covering India, GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) and other geographies as well. Subsequently he worked with Bank of Baroda UK as Head – Retail Banking and advisor strategic initiatives. Earlier he had served ICICI bank in India as Regional Head Chandigarh and Zonal Head Kolkata (Eastern Zone).

Mr Sudhir Sharma has joined as Regional Head, UK Ops. at State Bank of India, London. State Bank of India (SBI) is a Fortune 500 company and is among the top 50 Banks in the world. Mr Sharma is also Chief Executive Officer of the subsidiary, State Bank of India UK (Limited) which was formed in April 2018. Mr Sharma joined SBI as a Probationary Officer in 1988. He has over 34 years of experience in Retail, Mid-Corporate, International Banking, Planning & Strategy, etc. Before joining the London office, Mr Sharma was MD & CEO of SBI (Mauritius) Ltd. since November 2020. Mr Sharma has worked as General Manager (Network) in Northeast and Deputy General Manager (Business & Operations) Secunderabad in India. He also worked as VP & Chief Operating Officer at SBI New York during 2008-2012. His interest includes travel and sports.

Mr. Rakesh Kumar took charge as Managing Director of IIFC(UK) on 4th April 2021. He has a post graduate degree in management and diploma in training and development. He has a rich experience of over 2 decades across various renowned public sector institutions in India involved in various sectors like mining, power, transportation and financial services. During his tenure in IIFCL over the past decade he has effectively handled responsibilities and lead teams in several departments including Human Resources, General Administration, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Planning, Subsidiary management and Credit sanction, disbursement & monitoring. He has also represented IIFCL in various national and international forums hosted by trade organisations, multilateral and bilateral institutions.