Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors bring together seasoned leaders with deep expertise in banking, finance, investment management, and governance. 


Their collective vision and strategic guidance ensure that SBI Ventures continues to operate with integrity, scale, and foresight, building long-term value for investors while contributing to India’s growth story.

Mr. Challa Sreenivasulu Setty

Chairman

Mr. Ashwini Kumar Tewari

Nominee Director

Mr. S.V.Sastry

Nominee Director

Mr. Surya Prakash Rao Pendyala

Independent Director

Ms. Padmaja Chunduru

Independent Director

Mr. Prem Prabhakar

Managing Director & CEO

Mr. Challa Sreenivasulu Setty

Chairman

Mr. Challa Sreenivasulu Setty took charge as Chairman on 28 August 2024. He joined the Board of SBI as Managing Director in January 2020 and headed the Retail & Digital Banking vertical from 2020 to 2022. He later led the International Banking, Global Markets & Technology portfolio before his elevation to Chairman. He has also chaired various task forces and committees formed by the Government of India.

A Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers, he started his career at State Bank of India in 1988 as a Probationary Officer. With a distinguished career spanning over three decades in banking, Mr. Setty brings extensive experience in Corporate Credit, Retail, Digital, and International Banking.

Shri Setty has held key assignments within the State Bank of India in Stressed Assets Management, Corporate Banking, Mid-Corporate Banking, Global Markets, Technology, and Syndications, both, in India and abroad.

Mr. Ashwini Kumar Tewari

Nominee Director

Mr. Ashwini Kumar Tewari is a career banker and started his career in SBI in the year 1991 as a Probationary Officer. He has spent more than three decades with the bank in India and abroad in various assignments.

Presently, since 21.11.2023, he is the Managing Director (Corporate Banking and Subsidiaries) of State Bank of India and a Whole-Time Director handling the portfolio of Large Corporate and Commercial Credit business of the Bank, along with Associates & Subsidiaries of the Bank. This includes major non-bank businesses like credit cards, mutual funds, life & general insurance, capital markets, custodial services, etc., and serving on the boards of all these companies.

Prior to this assignment, he was Managing Director (Risk, Compliance and Stressed Assets) from June 2022. There, he focused on driving Climate Risk Management in the Bank and shaping the stressed assets strategy of the Bank. Earlier, he was the Managing Director handling International Banking, Information Technology and Non-Bank Subsidiaries of the Bank from January 2021. He was also involved in a major refresh in the technology space in SBI. Prior to becoming Managing Director at SBI, he served as Managing Director and CEO of SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd., where he oversaw key partnerships inked with GPay, PayTM, BPCL, etc., and steered the company through the immediate aftermath of the COVID period.

Earlier, he was the Country Head of the U.S. operations of State Bank of India from April 2017 to July 2020. Prior to that, he was the Regional Head and General Manager, East Asia, for SBI, based in Hong Kong.

Over the years, he has held other leadership positions at State Bank of India including Deputy General Manager (Operations & Information Systems), International Banking; Head of SBI’s Cash Management; Regional Manager; Branch Head, among others.

An Electrical Engineer by qualification, he is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB), a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), and has completed a Certificate Course in Management from XLRI.

Mr. S.V.Sastry

Nominee Director

Mr. S. V. Sastry, a graduate in Science from Government College, Anantapur (Andhra Pradesh), joined State Bank of India as a Probationary Officer on 01 October 1985. He retired from the services of the Bank on 30 September 2022 as Deputy Managing Director (Global Markets). During his career spanning 37 years, Shri Sastry held various assignments in the Bank, both in India and abroad.

Mr. Sastry was MD & CEO of SBI DFHI Ltd., a subsidiary of the Bank and a standalone primary dealer, between November 2017 and May 2020. Thereafter, he moved to head the domestic treasury operations of State Bank of India as DMD (Global Markets). For a major portion of his career in the Bank, he was associated with the markets, both forex as well as rupee.

Mr. Surya Prakash Rao Pendyala

Independent Director

Mr. Rao is a distinguished financial services veteran with over four decades of experience in the Indian banking and infrastructure sectors. Most recently, he served as Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer at the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), India’s quasi-sovereign wealth fund, from 2017 to 2023. At NIIF, Mr. Rao played a pivotal role in scaling the organisation to over USD 4.5 billion in AUM, establishing key funds, raising capital, and acquiring strategic assets.

Mr. Rao played a pioneering role in setting up and scaling two infra NBFCs, demonstrating a track record of building institutions with strong governance structures, and chairing the boards and credit committees of these NBFCs.

Mr. Rao served as Officer on Special Duty at the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, where he helped operationalise the concept of NIIF. Prior to his role at NIIF, Mr. Rao spent over 30 years with the State Bank of India (SBI), where he held various leadership positions. Notable roles included Chief General Manager for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry operations;

General Manager of the Private Equity and Venture Capital vertical of SBI; and Deputy CEO of SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund. His expertise spans corporate finance, infrastructure and project finance, risk management, private equity, and venture capital.

Mr. Rao’s career highlights include playing a pivotal role in the establishment of joint venture funds such as the SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund and the Oman India Joint Investment Fund.

Ms. Padmaja Chunduru

Additional Independent Director

Ms. Padmaja Chunduru is a seasoned financial services executive with over 37 years of banking and capital markets experience in India and the USA. She has led iconic institutions, NSDL (National Securities Depository Ltd.) and Indian Bank, as the MD & CEO. As Deputy Managing Director, SBI (State Bank of India), she led digital banking services and was the Country Head, U.S. operations for three years.

Ms. Padmaja led NSDL in implementing efficiency improvements in the settlement cycle from T+2 to T+1 and then to T+0 settlement. She was also instrumental in NSDL developing and running a DLT blockchain-based platform for security and covenant monitoring of corporate debt, the first such DLT initiative in India.

As MD & CEO of Indian Bank, Ms. Padmaja successfully steered the merger of two PSU banks. Significant improvement in key business metrics and the empathetic handling of the cultural integration of two diverse banks became the subject of a Harvard Business School Publishing case study titled “Merger of Equals.”

Ms. Padmaja has served on the Boards of LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India), NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India), ISSA (International Securities Services Association), ACG (Asia Pacific Central Depository Group), Institute of International Bankers, and Asia Society, New York.

Currently, she is a member of the Insurance Advisory Committee of IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India) and the CCGS Advisory Council, IIMB (Centre for Corporate Governance and Sustainability, IIM Bangalore).

She has been awarded Best CEO (BFSI) for 2021 by Business Today and Best CEO 2021 for Women Leadership by Economic Times. She has also been acknowledged as one of the Most Powerful Women (MPW) in Business by Fortune India and Business Today for 2022 and 2023.

Mr. Prem Prabhakar

Managing Director & CEO

Mr. Prem Prabhakar joined as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of SBI Ventures Limited (formerly known as SBICAP Ventures Limited) in June 2024. A seasoned banker with over 25 years of diverse experience in the financial services industry, Mr. Prabhakar brings a deep understanding of banking operations, treasury, compliance, risk management and strategic leadership.

Prior to his appointment at SBI Ventures Limited, Mr. Prabhakar held the position of General Manager at State Bank of India (SBI), where he played several key leadership roles across
domestic and international assignments. His career reflects a consistent record of managing complex portfolios, driving innovation, and delivering strong operational and financial outcomes.

One of his notable assignments includes serving as Deputy General Manager (Business & Operations), where he oversaw a large cluster of SBI branches. In this capacity, he was responsible for the retail business, operational excellence, customer service enhancement, and implementation of risk mitigation strategies. He played a critical role in ensuring adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs), internal controls, and audit norms while leading initiatives to promote digital transformation and tech-enabled banking services at the branch level. His efforts contributed significantly to improving compliance with RBI guidelines,
internal policies, and regulatory expectations.

Mr. Prabhakar’s core area of specialisation lies in treasury and financial markets, where he has experience of more than a decade in managing diverse functions such as foreign
exchange, money markets, derivatives, resource mobilisation, asset-liability management (ALM), and interest rate and liquidity risk management. He served as Chief Dealer (Forex) at
SBI Global Markets, Mumbai, where he was responsible for forex operation and uphold SBI’s role as a market maker.

Internationally, Mr. Prabhakar also held the role of Head of Central Treasury at SBI New York, where he managed strategic relationships with other central treasuries and global
treasury counterparts. His leadership in this role reinforced SBI’s footprint in global markets and ensured efficient treasury operations aligned with global best practices.

In addition to his executive roles, Mr. Prabhakar also served as a Director on the Board of Jharkhand Rajya Gramin Bank (JRGB), a Regional Rural Bank. In this governance role, he contributed to the strategic oversight, compliance monitoring and execution of development- focused banking initiatives. He was instrumental in ensuring alignment with RBI and NABARD guidelines, evaluating rural credit performance, priority sector lending, and strengthening the bank’s risk management framework.

Mr. Prabhakar holds a postgraduate degree in Humanities and is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB). His strong academic foundation, combined with rich
field experience and global exposure, uniquely positions him to lead SBI Ventures Limited in its mission to foster innovation and investment in the financial ecosystem.