Nasser Munjee

Nasser Munjee was educated at the Leys School in Cambridge UK and then went on to do his Bachelor and Masters Degrees at the London School of Economics, UK. He spent a short while at the University of Chicago USA, before returning to India in 1977. He joined Mr. H. T. Parekh, then Chairman of one of India’s leading development banks – ICICI, to establish the first housing finance company in India – Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) – the first retail institution serving customers directly for their housing needs.

Against many odds the HDFC group, as it is known today, grew to be a financial conglomerate with assets over $50 billion in banking, insurance, mutual funds as well as its prime business – housing finance. He rose to be an executive director on the Board with wide responsibilities. In 1997, the Finance Minister of India requested the Chairman of HDFC to consider setting up an infrastructure finance company as India faced acute challenges in this field. Nasser was asked to think through this challenge and, as a result, Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) was born.

IDFC charted the course of private investment in infrastructure – a sector that was dominated by the public sector – with great success. Much of the conditions for private investment in infrastructure in India was created by IDFC between 1997 and 2004. Nasser left IDFC owing to disagreements with the Government which intended a nationalization of IDFC. Since 2004, Nasser has been pursuing his own interests in his own way. He sits on 10 prominent Public Corporate Boards in India including HDFC, Tata Motors, Tata Chemicals, Britannia Industries, Cummins India, Go Airlines (India) Ltd., ABB India, and Ambuja Cements (now part of the HOLCIM group).

He is the Chairman of DCB Bank, Tata Motors Finance and of two other Aga Khan institutions in India. He was also the President of Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry – the city’s oldest Chamber of Commerce and he has served on numerous Government Task Forces on housing, Infrastructure and Urban Development. Mr. Munjee played a pivotal role in setting up IDFC and also served as its CEO in its formative years.