Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Limited (also called MMFSL and Mahindra Finance), part of the Mahindra Group, today appointed Raul Rebello as its new Chief Operating Officer (COO) with immediate effect. This is after the movement of Rajnish Agarwal to Mahindra Rural Housing Finance Ltd (MRHFL).

Rebello is a career banker with nearly two decades of experience in the domain of rural banking and financial inclusion. Prior to joining Mahindra Finance, he was associated with Axis Bank Limited as EVP & Head – Rural Lending & Financial Inclusion.

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Ramesh Iyer, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra Finance, said, “It is our pleasure to welcome Raul to the leadership team of Mahindra Finance. As we work deep in the rural market, the next 3-4 years could really be critical with a good rural bounce back, capitalising on all emerging opportunities in the rural market. We are broad basing our management team to be able to handle all our new initiatives, to really go deeper, and make the rural market bigger for us.”

Raul Rebello, COO, Mahindra Finance, said, “I am absolutely delighted to be part of the diversified Mahindra Group and Mahindra Finance in particular. The plans we have discussed for the financial arm and its subsidiaries are challenging, yet exciting. I see significant potential in the combination of my core business expertise and MMFSL’s resident knowledge and people. I am confident that we will add considerable value together and look forward to a mutually rewarding association”.

In his nearly two decades with Axis Bank, Rebello led key businesses including farmer funding, gold loans, MSME lending, commodity loans, tractor & farm equipment lending, agri-value chain finance, microfinance (retail & wholesale) and the financial inclusion department. He also led the business correspondent channel including 15000+ partner outlets and the micro ATM channel of the bank. He played a pivotal role in increasing the banks distribution in rural and semi-urban areas through light format banking outlets, micro-ATMs and rural ecosystem partnerships.