slice appoints Samir Sawhney executive director and Ramesh Kumar independent director
The digital banking and UPI platform has added two veteran bankers to its board following RBI approval for Sawhney’s appointment, as slice pursues growth, responsible underwriting and technology investment after merging with North East Small Finance Bank.
What happened
Slice · Digital bank slice appointed Samir Sawhney executive director and Ramesh Kumar independent director, following RBI approval for Sawhney. The
Key facts
- Over 30 years of banking experience for Samir Sawhney
- Over 34 years at State Bank of India for Sawhney
- More than 30 years of experience for Ramesh Kumar
- Two decades at ICICI Bank for Kumar
Why this matters
slice’s board build-out reinforces its intent to combine fintech distribution with regulated banking capabilities, potentially making it a more credible strategic partner in India’s digital-finance ecosystem.
What to watch
- RBI approvals, observations or restrictions related to the post-merger bank structure.
- Changes in slice's deposit base, CASA mix and cost of funds.
- Loan-book growth versus delinquencies, credit costs and provisioning trends.
- New senior hires in risk, compliance, technology, treasury and lending leadership.
- Launches of bank-led savings, deposit, credit-card, UPI or merchant products.
- Evidence of technology-platform consolidation and customer migration from legacy systems.
- Appoint additional independent directors or senior risk, compliance and treasury executives.
- Prioritize unified core banking, data governance, fraud controls and UPI reliability investments.
- Launch or broaden secured, salary-linked or merchant-focused lending products with tighter underwriting.
- Use the banking platform to build deposits and lower reliance on external lending capital.
- Increase disclosures around asset quality, capital adequacy, governance and post-merger integration milestones.