Veterans of the market recall Abhay Aima as a buddy, mentor, cowboy, and kind person

Veterans of the market recall Abhay Aima as a buddy, mentor, cowboy, and kind person

Journalists and colleagues in the industry expressed astonishment at the death of the seasoned leader, who was renowned for his keen common sense approach to everything in life, including markets, and his irreverent and amiable demeanor.

Aima established HDFC Bank's private wealth division and turned it into a vital source of expansion for the organization. According to insiders, he was a taskmaster who put tremendous pressure on his group to meet goals year after year.

At the age of sixty-three, veteran banker Abhay Aima unexpectedly died away in Mumbai on April 27. Known as one of HDFC Bank's titans, he led the company's private wealth arm. Colleagues in the industry and journalists expressed astonishment at the death of the seasoned leader, who was renowned for his amiable demeanor, irreverence, and astute common sense approach to many aspects of life, including markets.

Aima was formerly HDFC Bank's Group Head for International Consumer Business, Third Party Products, NRI, and Equities and Private Banking Group. Aima established HDFC Bank's private wealth division and turned it into a vital source of expansion for the organization. According to insiders, he was a taskmaster who put tremendous pressure on his group to meet goals year after year.

He worked with Citibank till 1995, when he joined HDFC Bank. He was one of Aditya Puri's blue-eyed lads at Citibank, where they worked together. Aima, an NDA alumnus, was forced to opt out since his sitting height made flying impossible. After that, he moved into private banking.

Aima is the Bhishma Pitamah of private banking in India, according to Nilesh Shah, Managing Director of Kotak AMC, having more market expertise than the majority of fund managers. Shah told Moneycontrol, "I will miss Abhay, whom I can truly call a friend, a mentor, and a guide."

Recalling one of his first encounters with Aima, Shah recalled being put to the test about his conviction. "Once he was convinced, he supported the fund, even if there were setbacks," Shah says.

Shah's relationship with the Isha Foundation became personal when Aima introduced him and his wife Parul to it. "We found a distinct Abhay. An Abhay of the spirit. We moved from commercial to global, from market to spiritual, and from professional to personal relationship," he said.

Pankaj Razdan, the former MD & CEO of Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance and Executive Vice Chairman & MD of Edelweiss Wealth, paid tribute to Aima in a post on the social networking site X, describing her as a brother, friend, and mentor.  "He was my friend, with whom I could discuss anything." Too quickly gone. Om Shanti," said Razdan.

Haseeb Drabu, a former Finance Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and a boyhood friend of mine, wrote on X, saying, "Aima Saeba, not done! I am in pieces, having lost my childhood companion and main character in bedtime tales told to my kid. and by themselves. In a minute, a fifty-year partnership between Mumbai and Srinagar comes to an end. Not just. April 17, 1961 – April 27, 2024 – Abhay Aima. RIP.

Razdan said, "I remember every minute of our time with Abhay," in response to Drabu. We joked, laughed, debated, and concluded with a delicious Kashmiri dinner that you, Haseeb, had made. memories that I will always value beyond anything else."

Aima has been working closely with Nitin Rao, CEO of InCred Wealth, another veteran of HDFC Bank, for more than 17 years. Nitin calls Aima a "maverick, a cowboy, a fearless hero, and a generous soul." Rao also thinks that he was a stickler for rules, a perfectionist who kept everyone in check and instilled in everyone the value of humility and deference.

Rao recalls that throughout the course of 17 years, Aima often shared his opinions on the market and portfolio management, never making a mistake. "All of us held him in awe for the market positioning and his market views," Rao recalls.

Referring to the seasoned executive as courageous, Rao recalls several instances in which he at HDFC Bank would question accepted wisdom, even when it meant defying the majority of senior officials' opinions.  "People have always regarded and taken his opinion seriously.

Many of the opinions were alarming initially expressed, but they would always end up being somewhat correct and organization-focused," he recalls.