As MD & CEO at Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance (ABSLI), Mr Kamlesh Rao is responsible for providing ABSLI with strategic direction and leading the team towards achieving rapid growth and profitability. His expertise focuses on growing the business, developing new business models, building distribution efficiency, value creation through efficient cost and process management, competitive product strategies, scaling up the digital business and strengthening the customer lifetime value proposition.   

Kamlesh is also chairperson of the Insurance Awareness Council, a committee that is part of the Life Insurance Council, focused on actively spreading life insurance awareness in India.    

As an integral part of the Banking & Financial Services industry, his experience has been shaped over a career spanning 25 years. In his previous role as the Managing Director & CEO – Retail at Kotak Securities Limited, Kamlesh was responsible for planning and executing strategic initiatives. He was instrumental in driving the growth and strategy for Secondary Markets, Primary Markets, Margin funding and distribution of Investment products. Prior to joining Kotak Securities Limited, Kamlesh held various roles at Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited over the course of 19 years. His experience spans across the asset and liability portfolios, including retail lending, business loans, unsecured loans, mortgages, SME lending, HNI banking and broking.  He joined the bank as a Management Trainee and rapidly rose through the ranks to become the Managing Director & CEO – Retail at Kotak Securities Limited.   

In his earlier stint, Kamlesh has served on several prestigious committees including the NSE & BSE Advisory Committees and Secondary Market Advisory Committee (SMAC). He holds a degree in Engineering and is a Management graduate.    

Kamlesh is a part of the Senior Management Team at Aditya Birla Capital and serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Aditya Birla Finance Limited. At ABSLI, he is focused towards taking the company to a leadership position within the private life insurance space.