Career
He began his career in the Indian state of Tripura, where he served in different developmental and regulatory positions. He was appointed Tripura’s Chief Secretary in 1992, when he became the youngest person ever in India to hold such a position in a State Government.
In 2001, Meleveetil Damodaran was appointed the Chairman of Unit Trust of India (UTI) to rescue India’s largest and oldest investment institution, which had collapsed. He restored UTI to health in arguably the most successful turnaround stories in Indian financial sector history. He was simultaneously given charge of Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), another of India’s major financial institutions. Here, he created the unique Stressed Assets Stabilisation Fund, which helped clean IDBI’s books, facilitating its conversion to a commercial bank and its merger with another bank.
As Chairman of SEBI, Damodaran brought improved corporate governance practices to India’s securities market. He was the Chairman of the Taskforce on Corporate Governance constituted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). While at SEBI, he was elected Chairman of the Emerging Markets Committee of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), a position he held till he demitted office as Chairman, SEBI. Among his many contributions was the introduction of QIP, an instrument for follow on offerings which until then was going to other markets. He was succeeded as chairman of SEBI by C.B.Bhave.
He speaks regularly at forums and high-level panels around the world and his areas of expertise include Financial Management, Securities Markets, Corporate Governance, Public Administration and Leadership, according to the London Speaker Bureau.
He has been awarded the Public Service Excellence Award (2009) by All India Management Association, the Economic Times Award for Change Agent of the Year (2006–07), and Finance Man of the year (2004), among other distinctions.
Read more about this topic: M. Damodaran
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“He was at a starting point which makes many a man’s career a fine subject for betting, if there were any gentlemen given to that amusement who could appreciate the complicated probabilities of an arduous purpose, with all the possible thwartings and furtherings of circumstance, all the niceties of inward balance, by which a man swings and makes his point or else is carried headlong.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“They want to play at being mothers. So let them. Expressing tenderness in their own way will not prevent girls from enjoying a successful career in the future; indeed, the ability to nurture is as valuable a skill in the workplace as the ability to lead.”
—Anne Roiphe (20th century)
“Like the old soldier of the ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Goodbye.”
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964)