Management Team

Mr. Jayant Dua
MD & CEO

Mr.Jayant Dua is the Managing Director at Birla Sun Life Insurance. He is a Chemical Engineer from IIT Delhi and an MBA from IMI, Delhi. He also holds an Advanced Management Program (AMP) from Harvard Business School, USA. He has joined Birla Sun Life Insurance in July 2010.

In his role as Managing Director, he provides Birla Sun Life Insurance a strategic direction and leads the insurance team towards achieving rapid growth and profitability. He focuses on long term sustainability while being nimble footed and using the multi-faceted regulatory environment to business advantage.

Prior to this, Jayant spearheaded Aditya Birla Insulators (ABI) in the capacity of President & CEO and was responsible for expanding ABI's customer base nationally and internationally while positioning the organization as a leader globally. He has been associated with the group for the last 14 years and as CEO of ABI, he has been instrumental in making the ABI business the fourth largest in its segment globally. Prior to his appointment with the Insulators Business, Mr.Dua spent close to a decade in Groups' Cement Business in capacities as diverse as Marketing, IT and Strategy.

Mr. Mayank Bathwal
CFO & Head of Institutional Sales

Mayank Bathwal is the Chief Financial Officer & Head of Institutional Sales for BSLI.

In his role as CFO he provides effective leadership to the Finance function towards growing the business of the company and partners the CEO and the leadership team in managing the affairs of the company.

Mayank joined The Aditya Birla Group in early 1994 with over 17 years of industry experience with him. Since then, he has worked closely in various units and projects of the group including fertilizer and copper smelting units, financial services business and power projects.

He joined Birla Sun Life Insurance in December 1999 as part of the Project team to set up the Life Insurance venture and was looking after the Business Strategy and Planning function prior to taking charge of other Finance operations of the company. Mayank then moved to take charge as the Chief Financial Officer of Sun Life, Indonesia in June 2006. He moved back to India in June 2007 after his successful stint in Indonesia for a year with the objective of supporting BSLI in its transformational phase.

During FY 2011 he has also taken charge of the Institutional Sales teams which includes Bancassurance , Corporate Agency & Broking channels of BSLI.

He is a Fellow member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Institute of Cost & Works Accountants of India and an Associate Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

Mr. Amitabh Verma
Chief Operating Officer

Amitabh Verma is the Chief Operating Officer for BSLI. He is responsible for determining the organizational strategies for Operations and IT and reports to the President and CEO of the company. He is with BSLI since February1, 2008

Amitabh is an Engineer and MBA by profession and has over 18 years of experience. He has held senior leadership positions in the IT and Financial Services Industry. Prior to joining BSLI, Amitabh was Vice President with AIG (Asia Pacific Life Operations), Hong Kong.

Mr. Sashi Krishnan
Chief Investment Officer

Sashi Krishnan is the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Birla Sun Life Insurance. He joined the organization in December 2011 and has a rich experience of 25 years in the Mutual Fund and Life Insurance industry.

Sashi has done his BE (Hons.) in Chemical Engineering and MSc (Hons.) in Economics from BITS, Pilani. He also has a Diploma in Management from IGNOU with a specialization in Finance. In addition, he has also done CAIIB from the Indian Institute of Bankers.

He has an extensive experience in Equity and Debt Markets. Prior to joining BSLI, Sashi was the Chief Investment Officer at Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company where he managed Assets over Rs 42,000 Cr. Besides leading the Investments team and being a member of the Investment Committee, he was also involved in product design and provided sales support.

His previous assignments include leadership roles with DBS Bank (Singapore), DBS Cholamandalam Asset Management Ltd and Unit Trust of India.

Sashi is the Member of the Index Policy Committee of India Index Services & Products Ltd and, also was the Co Chair of Life Insurance Committee of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He has also served as the Member of the Financial Planning Standards Board, India in 2004-2006.

Mr. Niall O'Hare
Chief Actuarial Officer

Niall O'Hare is the Chief Actuarial Officer for Birla Sun Life Insurance (BSLI) and is responsible for all Actuarial functions within the company. He is a qualified actuary, and a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries. He has also received his Bachelors degree in Applied Mathematics from the Queen's University of Belfast.

Niall joined Aditya Birla Financial Services Group (ABFSG) in May 2011, having previously worked in the UK, most recently for Sun Life Financial (SLF) as Head of Business Development, where he was responsible for running all UK sales, marketing and product development functions.

Niall has 18 years of experience in several leadership roles within large organizations. Prior to SLFC, he has worked with Lincoln Financial Group (LFG) and Zurich Financial Services (ZFS). While working with LFG as Chief Actuarial Officer in the UK, he led 5 distinct departments – actuarial, tax, product development, underwriting and claims.

Mr. Arun Malkani
Chief Marketing Officer

Arun Malkani is the Chief Marketing Officer for BSLI responsible for determining and defining the marketing strategy and initiatives of the company and its offerings, with the objective of being the target customer's preferred brand and choice among life insurance companies. Arun joined the company in September 2011.

Arun has done his Masters in Management Studies (specialising in Marketing) from Mumbai University and has over 17 years of work experience with leading MNC and Indian private sector organizations, primarily in the banking and financial services industry. Before joining BSLI, Arun was Head of Marketing for Liabilities, Investment Products and Segments at Axis Bank. Prior to that he has also been Head – Marketing Services at HDFC Bank.

Mr.Pramod Krishnamurthy
Head – Information Technology

Pramod Krishnamurthy is the Chief Technology Officer for BSLI responsible for providing the crucial Technology edge to enable BSLI to differentiate itself positively in the marketplace and reports to the CEO of the company. He joined BSLI team on May, 03 2010.

Pramod Krishnamurthy is an IIT-IIM graduate and has over 20 years of work experience in the Financial Services Technology area. He has held several senior leadership positions in the IT and Financial Services Industry, including running his own software company early in his career.Prior to joining BSLI, Pramod was an Executive Vice President with Fullerton India Credit

Mr. Saurov Ghosh
Head – Human Resources & Training

Saurov Ghosh is Executive Vice President & Head - Human Resources & Training. Saurov is an enthusiastic, talented and seasoned HR professional. His subject matter expertise, strong relationship, influencing skills and Business HR approach provides a sound basis for success in his role as Head Human Resources and Training.

Saurov reports to the CEO & Managing Director. Saurov is with BSLI since January 2008.

Saurov joins us from Yes Bank, where he was Sr. Vice President Human Capital and was responsible for the Human Capital function for the Retail Banking Business. Prior to joining Yes Bank, Saurov worked with HDFC Standard Life Insurance since its initial period and had played a major role for implementing the Human Resource strategy to help drive the overall business agenda for the company. He also has varied experience in manufacturing industry with the Kirloskar Group & CEAT ranging to a career span of 16 years in Human Resources.

Mr. Lalit Vermani
Head – Compliance, Risk, Legal & Audit

Lalit Vermani is a Sr. Vice-President at BSLI, heading the Compliance, Risk and Internal Audit functions for the company.

He has 17 years of experience in various areas of Financial Services including Insurance, Asset Management and Investment banking. Prior to this assignment, Lalit was heading the compliance function at Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd.

Lalit has an honours degree in Economics and MBA with specialisation in Finance. He is also a certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) by Global Association of Risk Professionals.

Mr. Vikas Seth
Head of Sales – DSF

Vikas Seth is Senior VP & the Head of Sales – DSF (Direct Sales Force) at Birla Sun Life Insurance (BSLI). He is a qualified Electronics & Electrical Communication Engineer and has done Masters Business Administration (Marketing). He joined BSLI in January 2008.

Currently at BSLI, Vikas along with heading the Agency is also responsible for Rural & Business Mentor Vertical. Vikas is also leading revolutionary transformational project called "BSLI Way".

Vikas joins us with a strong working experience of over 15 years in diverse industries like Telecom, FMCG & Life Insurance. He has worked with organizations like Essar Telecom (Vodafone), Amway, ICICI Prudential, HDFC Life in the past. His expertise is in Startup, Building Distribution & implementation of Sales & Marketing strategies.