India's Axis Capital loses two senior investment bankers- sources

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Axis ECM head, MD quit, in latest departures - sources

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Two Axis Capital co-CEOs also quit in the last six months

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Departures come amid India IPO boom

By M. Sriram

MUMBAI, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Two senior investment bankers at India's Axis Capital, including its head of equity capital markets, have resigned in the latest in a series of top-level departures at a time when stock market listings are booming in the country, three sources said.

Ashish Kumbhat, who headed the firm's Equity Capital Markets practice, and Amit Jain, a managing director, have decided to leave the firm, the sources said, who declined to be named as the matter is confidential. Both people had been at Axis for more than 15 years, their LinkedIn profiles show.

Axis Capital, owned by India's fourth-biggest private lender Axis Bank, advised on some of India's biggest public offerings last year including condom-maker Mankind Pharma's $500 million offering.

Jain, Kumbhat and an Axis spokesperson did not respond to queries seeking comment.

Axis competes with other local giants such as Kotak Mahindra and ICICI, as well as foreign banks such as Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan, in the competitive market for advising companies on stock listings.

Axis ranked 9th in India's IPO fee-earning tables among banks, according to LSEG equity capital markets December data, slipping from 6th in 2022.

India's stock markets, which overtook Hong Kong this week to become the world's fourth biggest by market capitalisation, are expected to see record IPO activity this year, driven by political stability and a growing economy, Reuters reported in December.

Axis is currently advising on deals, including the IPO of India's biggest electric-scooter maker Ola Electric, that is planning to raise $662 million.

Kumbhat and Jain's departure follow Axis Capital's two co-CEOs, who left the firm within six months of each other. Chirag Negandhi, a veteran at the firm decided to leave in September, Reuters reported, while his colleague Salil Pitale left earlier this week, Bloomberg reported.

Axis is now hiring a new CEO, Atul Mehra, from rival bank JM Financial, two sources said. Mehra declined to comment. (Reporting by M. Sriram, editing by Aditya Kalra and Sharon Singletron)