Ajaypal Singh Banga, generally known as Ajay Banga is the name of a Gursikh, who has climbed the echelons of an international company Master Card Inc, the ubiquitous financial company, becoming thereby one of the highest paid company executives in the world. Belonging to a Sikh family of Jalandhar, Banga was born in 1960in Pune, India, where his father late S. Harbhajan Singh Banga was posted in the Indian Army (he retired as Lt. General). As Banga was a brilliant student and like his elder brother wanted to join some big company, he completed his graduation with Economics, from St. Stephen College, Delhi and his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad. He started his career at Nestle India as a management trainee in 1981 and spent the next 13 years of his career holding a variety of assignments spanning sales, marketing and general management. He later joined PepsiCo’s Restaurants Division, where he was instrumental in the launch of Pizza Hut and KFC in India due to liberalization of economy. He joined Citigroup in 1996 as the head of marketing in India for the consumer business and served in a variety of positions of increasing responsibility. These included chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Internaitonal Global Consumer Group; President of Retail Banking North America; business head for CitiFinancial and the US Consumer Assets Division; and, division executive for the consumer bank in Central/Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa and India. He got further promotions and became the head of bank business in Asia including credit cards, consumer banking, institutional banking wealth management and alternative investment with his headquarter at Hong Kong in 2008. In 2009 he returned to USA and joined Master Card, where he took
over as President and CEO succeeding Robert W. Selandar in July 2010. The company also announced that
he will be a member of Master Card’s Board of Directors also. His professional efficiency and ability enabled
him to bring wonderful results for the company. He re-designed the Debit Card product with his package of
features, introduced new ideas and started innovative features like reading a Bar Code from the phone and
converting it to a purchase. As a leader he encourages his colleagues and subordinates to share their ideas.
He has also been on the boards of trustees of Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., the National Urban
League and the New York Hall of Science, and was a director of the Council for Economic Education. Mr.
Banga has a keen interest in social development issues and was named by ‘The Economic Times of India’
as the fourth ‘Most Powerful Indian in the world’. On February 5 2015, President Barak Obama appointed
Banga to serve as a Member of the President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.
Presently, he is also the Chairman of the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) representing more than
three hundred of the largest international companies investing in India. He is also a member of board of
directors of the Dow Chemical Company; member o the Council on Foreign Relations; and member of
International Business Council of the World Economic Forum. The Government of India awarded him the
civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2016. The positions he has held with honour and dignity in the Sikhi
sarup makes all the Sikhs feel proud of him. His success story and achievements make him a role-model to
be emulated not only by the Sikhs but all the Indians wherever they are living. His interest in Sikh affairs and
activities, participation therein and his qualities of a Gursikh like hard work, dedication, honesty and nice
behavior add to his stature as a great role-model.
