Investment banker Atul Mehra has resigned from his position as joint managing director at JM Financial Services after a 33-year tenure in the group, the company said in a filing with the stock exchanges on Saturday.
He is set to join Axis Capital as managing director and chief executive, a position that has been vacant since December 2018, when Dharmesh Mehta resigned to establish his investment bank, said people with knowledge of the matter.
At Axis Capital, Mehra will be responsible for overseeing equity capital markets, business operations, mergers and acquisitions, securities markets, research, institutional equities, loan syndication and other related business activities, said the people.
They said the role of interim managing director Salil Pitale, who has been in the position since Mehta’s resignation in 2018, after Mehra takes charge, is not yet clear.
ET’s queries emailed to Axis Capital did not elicit a response till press time. Mehra declined to comment on the matter.
He formally tendered his resignation on January 19, according to JM Financial Services, and he is slated to conclude his tenure at the company by April 20.
The stated reason for his resignation is pursuit of alternative career opportunities.
A Harvard Business School alumnus, Mehra joined JM Financial Services in 1991 as a management trainee, steadily rose through the ranks and was the head of investment banking for several years. In 2022, he was promoted to the position of joint managing director of the group. He has led some of India’s larger equity fundraisings and worked closely with several leading business houses.
Last month, JM Financial Services brought in Chirag Negandhi of Axis Capital as a senior management executive. Negandhi was a joint managing director and co-CEO at Axis Capital, where he spent nearly 14 years.
In the Indian equity capital market league table for 2023, JM Financial Services was ranked sixth, up from 11th in 2022. Conversely, Axis Capital fell to the ninth position from eighth during this period.
