When we published his UGX14.4 million salary per month, early this year, the market was in shock- but nonetheless, Ashwini Kumar, the largely quiet Managing Director of Bank of Baroda, is a powerful man.
He runs Uganda’s 6th largest bank by assets (UGX1.7 trillion: 6.1% market share), lending (UGX757.2 billion; 5.9% market share) and deposits (UGX1.3 trillion; 6.6% market share). His bank is also the 4th most profitable, notching some UGX73.5billion in 2018 profits.
Little is known about Ashwini Kumar before he ascended to the helm of Bank of Baroda on 12th April 2017, following the exit of Birbal Singh Dhaka, the bank’s boss, since December 2013.
In the more than two years, he has been at Baroda he has grown the bank’s assets by 16.8% from UGX1.5 trillion in 2017 to UGX1.8 trillion in June 2019- according to results released in August 2019.
He has also been behind a 14.5% growth in deposits from UGX1.16 trillion in 2017 to UGX1.34 trillion as of June 2019.
At a monthly salary of, UGX14,4 million, Mr. Kumar is probably the lowest paid bank CEO in Uganda.