Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Publications
Timeline
Generic
RAKESH VERMA

RAKESH VERMA

Mumbai

Summary

Rakesh possesses over 20 years of rich and extensive experience in Corporate Affairs, Public Policy, Government Relations, Regulatory Engagement, International Affairs, and Social Impact. He is passionate about advancing public policy objectives that create positive changes in the lives of broader communities by championing initiatives that align with the organization's mission and values. Currently, Rakesh leads the Public Policy, Government Relations, Regulatory Affairs, and Social Impact initiatives for Stripe in India and the APAC markets.

Overview

20
20
years of professional experience

Work History

Head of Public Policy, Government Relations, International Affairs and Social Impact

| Stripe
Mumbai
04.2022 - Current
  • Develop, lead, and implement public policy, government relations, and regulatory affairs strategies
  • Analyze government regulations, bills, guidelines, and licensing requirements relevant to business and sector
  • Provide senior management with policy insights on emerging opportunities, challenges, and risks within the industry
  • Advocate policies that promote a clear and favorable business environment, offering line of sight to senior management
  • Create content and contribute to policy discussions with government officials, regulators, and think tanks on relevant industry issues
  • Facilitate high-level meetings between executive leadership and key government officials and regulatory agencies to communicate organizational priorities
  • Develop policy positions to engage with key ministries and relevant stakeholders to shape the narrative on critical industry topics to achieve desired policy outcomes for the industry
  • Build and maintain strong working relationships with government officials, bilateral associations, industry bodies, and think tanks, both in India and organization's home nation
  • Engage with key ministries (MeitY, MoF, MoC, MHA, MoEA, MoE), government departments (DEA, DFS, DPIIT, Invest India, CERT-In, FIU), and RBI (DPSS, DoR, DoS, FED, FIDD and Fintech)
  • Develop and maintain strong working relationships with bilateral associations (USIBC, USISPF), industry bodies (IBA, PCI, IAMAI, CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, NASSCOM, DSCI), and think tanks (NITI Aayog, ORF, RIS, Carnegie)
  • Build robust and collaborative alliances with multilateral agencies (WB, IMF, IFC, ADB, OECD, UNCDF, WEF, FSB, BIS, FATF, G7, G20)

Head of Government Relations, Regulatory Affairs, Public Policy and Compliance (Digital Payments and Fintech)

| Reliance Group
03.2020 - 04.2022
  • Develop, lead, and implement public policy, government relations, and regulatory affairs strategies
  • Analyze government regulations, bills, guidelines, and licensing requirements relevant to business and sector
  • Provide senior management with policy insights on emerging opportunities, challenges, and risks within the industry
  • Advocate policies that promote a clear and favorable business environment, offering line of sight to senior management
  • Create content and contribute to policy discussions with government officials, regulators, and think tanks on relevant industry issues
  • Facilitate high-level meetings between executive leadership and key government officials and regulatory agencies to communicate organizational priorities
  • Develop policy positions to engage with key ministries and relevant stakeholders to shape the narrative on critical industry topics to achieve desired policy outcomes for the industry
  • Build and maintain strong working relationships with government officials, bilateral associations, industry bodies, and think tanks, both in India and organization's home nation
  • Engage with key ministries (MeitY, MoF, MoC, MHA, MoEA, MoE), government departments (DEA, DFS, DPIIT, Invest India, CERT-In, FIU), and RBI (DPSS, DoR, DoS, FED, FIDD and Fintech)
  • Develop and maintain strong working relationships with industry bodies (IBA, PCI, IAMAI, CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, NASSCOM, DSCI), and think tanks (NITI Aayog, ORF, RIS, Carnegie)
  • Build robust and collaborative alliances with multilateral agencies (WB, IMF, IFC, ADB, OECD, UNCDF, WEF, FSB, BIS, FATF, G7, G20)

Director (Government Engagement, Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy)

| VISA
02.2018 - 03.2020
  • Develop, lead, and implement public policy, government relations, and regulatory affairs strategies
  • Analyze government regulations, bills, guidelines, and licensing requirements relevant to business and sector
  • Provide senior management with policy insights on emerging opportunities, challenges, and risks within the industry
  • Advocate policies that promote a clear and favorable business environment, offering line of sight to senior management
  • Create content and contribute to policy discussions with government officials, regulators, and think tanks on relevant industry issues
  • Facilitate high-level meetings between executive leadership and key government officials and regulatory agencies to communicate organizational priorities
  • Develop policy positions to engage with key ministries and relevant stakeholders to shape the narrative on critical industry topics to achieve desired policy outcomes for the industry
  • Build and maintain strong working relationships with government officials, bilateral associations, industry bodies, and think tanks, both in India and organization's home nation
  • Engage with key ministries (MeitY, MoF, MoC, MHA, MoEA, MoE), government departments (DEA, DFS, DPIIT, Invest India, CERT-In, FIU), and RBI (DPSS, DoR, DoS, FED, FIDD and Fintech)
  • Develop and maintain strong working relationships with bilateral associations (USIBC, USISPF), industry bodies (IBA, PCI, IAMAI, CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, NASSCOM, DSCI), and think tanks (NITI Aayog, ORF, RIS, Carnegie)
  • Build robust and collaborative alliances with multilateral agencies (WB, IMF, IFC, ADB, OECD, UNCDF, WEF, FSB, BIS, FATF, G7, G20)

Manager (Financial Services Consulting, Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs)

| KPMG
08.2016 - 02.2018
  • Provided counsel to MeitY, DFS, and DEA to establish a resilient, secure, and inclusive financial services ecosystem
  • Offered guidance to MeitY and DFS to promote the adoption of digital financial services
  • Obtained regulatory approvals from RBI and NPCI to operationalize financial services for a newly established SFB
  • Secured regulatory approvals for launching mobile banking services for a prominent Urban Cooperative Bank
  • Designed, executed, and launched a comprehensive range of payment services for a newly established SFB
  • Drafted standard operating procedures for a leading payment system service provider
  • Crafted payment system policies for a prominent payment system service provider

Senior Manager (Product Development, Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs)

| National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)
05.2010 - 07.2016
  • Developed and communicated public policy objectives regarding Digital Payments to Government Ministries, RBI, NABARD, UIDAI, and OMCs
  • Identified new retail payment flows and provided strategic policy insights to capitalize on opportunities for expanding the scope of retail payments in India
  • Analysed regulatory policies, guidelines, and oversight requirements to identify challenges and risks associated with retail payment systems
  • Advocated for NPCI's stance to the Government and Regulatory Authorities to foster a healthy and competitive payments ecosystem in India
  • Rolled out India's domestic card scheme RuPay
  • Launched Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), offering 24/7, instant, real-time digital payment capabilities
  • Introduced USSD-based Payment Service (
  • 99#) under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)
  • Deployed Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS) and Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS), utilizing digital identity (Aadhaar) for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and Financial Inclusion initiatives
  • Established National Automated Clearing House (NACH) for bulk and repetitive digital payments
  • Implemented Cheque Truncation System (CTS) for image-based cheque clearing
  • Deployed Express Cheque Clearing System (ECCS) for non-MICR clearing
  • Contributed to the implementation of the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS)
  • Contributed to the implementation of the Unified Payment Interface (UPI)

Senior Manager (Payments Operations)

| HDFC Bank
02.2008 - 04.2010
  • Led branch payments and clearing operations
  • Oversaw processing and reconciliation of Cheque Clearing, ECS, NEFT and RTGS transactions
  • Ensured exceptional service delivery to facilitate seamless branch operations and customer satisfaction

Assistant Manager (Payments Operations)

| ICICI Bank
07.2005 - 12.2007
  • Managed Cheque Clearing, ECS, NEFT and RTGS operations
  • Prepared and submitted daily, fortnightly, and monthly payment system reports
  • Ensured outstanding service delivery to facilitate seamless branch operations and customer satisfaction

Management Trainee (Steel Scrap - International Trade and Payments)

| Adani Enterprises
11.2004 - 07.2005
  • Engaged in sales and marketing of Steel Scrap to buyers in India
  • Managed pre-shipment and post-shipment documentation, Letters of Credit (LCs) for business transactions

Education

10th standard -

Maheshwari Public School
Jaipur, India

12th standard -

Maheshwari Public School
Jaipur, India

Bachelor of Science - Economics, Geography, Computer Application

Stani Memorial College
Jaipur, India

MBA - International Business

University Business School
Chandigarh

Skills

  • Geopolitical analysis
  • Economic Impact Assessment
  • Policy Design and Advocacy
  • Bills and legislative monitoring
  • Risk Assessment and Compliance
  • Stakeholder Mapping and Engagement
  • Market Entry Strategy
  • Crisis Management
  • Multilateral Agencies' Engagement
  • Digital economy
  • Digital Public Infrastructure

Publications

  • Authored thought leadership “The Account Aggregator Framework: A First Step Towards Open Banking in India,” featured in the October 2020 edition of Central Bank Payment News, a global monthly e-publication on Payment Systems and Market Infrastructure.
  • Co-authored “Interdependence of Emerging Technology on Next-generation Banking,” published by KPMG and unveiled at IBEX 2017, an annual international conference on banking technology.
  • Contributed to “Payment Systems in India – An Overview,” jointly published by NPCI and KPMG, introduced at the International Conference on National Payment Systems organized by NPCI in 2015.
  • Penned an article titled “Aadhaar Payment Bridge (APB) – A Payment System Innovation,” published in the April 2014 issue of The Indian Banker magazine by the Indian Banks’ Association.

Timeline

Head of Public Policy, Government Relations, International Affairs and Social Impact

| Stripe
04.2022 - Current

Head of Government Relations, Regulatory Affairs, Public Policy and Compliance (Digital Payments and Fintech)

| Reliance Group
03.2020 - 04.2022

Director (Government Engagement, Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy)

| VISA
02.2018 - 03.2020

Manager (Financial Services Consulting, Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs)

| KPMG
08.2016 - 02.2018

Senior Manager (Product Development, Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs)

| National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)
05.2010 - 07.2016

Senior Manager (Payments Operations)

| HDFC Bank
02.2008 - 04.2010

Assistant Manager (Payments Operations)

| ICICI Bank
07.2005 - 12.2007

Management Trainee (Steel Scrap - International Trade and Payments)

| Adani Enterprises
11.2004 - 07.2005

10th standard -

Maheshwari Public School

12th standard -

Maheshwari Public School

Bachelor of Science - Economics, Geography, Computer Application

Stani Memorial College

MBA - International Business

University Business School

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