RBI clears Rajan Bajaj’s appointment as MD and CEO of Slice Small Finance Bank

Guwahati-headquartered Slice Small Finance Bank has appointed its founder, Rajan Bajaj, as Managing Director and CEO, following approvals from the shareholders and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The appointment marks a leadership transition at the lender, which was formed in 2024 through the merger of Bengaluru-based fintech Slice and Guwahati-based North East Small Finance Bank. The RBI had earlier approved the appointment of former Andhra Bank executive Satish Kumar Kalra as CEO in 2023. After the merger, Bajaj was appointed Executive Director of the newly formed entity.

With the latest approval, Bajaj will now lead the bank in its next phase as a regulated small finance bank with a digital-first strategy.

Founded in 2016 by Bajaj, an IIT Kharagpur alumnus, Slice began as a consumer fintech startup focused on young users. Over time, it built lending distribution and payments businesses under GIPL. In 2018, Bajaj also established Quadrillion Finance, QFPL, a wholly owned NBFC of GIPL, which extended credit to retail customers and small businesses using technology-led underwriting and risk processes. QFPL was profitable and, along with GIPL, later merged into the banking entity.

The company has raised over $250 million from investors including Tiger Global Management, Insight Partners and Advent International.

Commenting on his appointment, Bajaj said, “I am grateful to the Reserve Bank of India and our Board for the confidence they have placed in me. More people need banking in India today than at any point in our country's history. The digital infrastructure to serve them well and at a fraction of the traditional cost now exists. And for the first time, technology makes it possible to offer every customer the kind of financial products that until recently were only available to the wealthiest few”.

“AI is now reaching the point where it can make banking genuinely personal at scale, by understanding what each customer needs, and making complex financial decisions simple. We are building with that future in mind, and we think we are still very early in what is possible,” he added.

Slice Small Finance Bank offers slice savings account, slice fixed deposits, slice UPI, slice borrow, the slice UPI credit card, and what it describes as India’s first UPI-led bank branch.