Reliance Industries has tapped Hitesh Sethia, a top executive from McLaren Strategic Ventures as chief executive officer (CEO) for its newly created financial services unit, Jio Financial Services, reported Bloomberg. Citing people familiar with the matter, the report said that Hitesh Sethia will join Jio Financial Services as its CEO and managing director.
The report comes as the Mukesh Ambani-led group is preparing for a listing of Jio Financial Services. In November last year, KV Kamath was appointed as non-executive chairman of the firm. Till now Reliance has not announced the timeline for the IPO, the report added.
According to the report, Sethia will move back to India to take up the new position at Reliance. He has been heading McLaren’s Europen unit since June last year. Hitesh Sethia has experience of over 20 years in the field of financial services.
According to his LinkedIn profile before joining McLaren, Sethia was head of the Transaction Banking Business at ICICI Bank. He was responsible for product, sales, and service including digital offerings in trade finance and cash management service for business and corporate customers of ICICI Bank.
Reliance Industries on October 21 last year announced that it intends to demerge its financial services undertaking into Reliance Strategic Investments Ltd (RSIL) and launch it as Jio Financial Services Ltd (JFSL).
The company said that Jio Financial Services will acquire liquid assets to provide adequate regulatory capital for lending. It will incubate financial services verticals such as insurance, payments, digital broking, and asset management for at least the next three years. The regulatory licenses for key businesses are in place.
In a report published last year, Macquarie Research said that Jio Financial Services (JFS) could become India’s fifth-largest financial services firm. HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, and Axis Bank are the four top companies in the business.