Kamath will also join Reliance Industries’ board as an independent director for five years, it added.
In October, Reliance Industries announced the demerger of its financial services business.
It said Reliance Strategic Investments, its wholly-owned subsidiary, will be spun off before listing on the exchanges as Jio Financial Services Ltd.
Kamath will continue to drive the company as a non-executive chairman following the demerger and listing, the company added. Reliance Industries is looking to cash in on the untapped opportunities in the financial services space, especially for retail and small-business product categories.
Jio Financial Services (JFS ) will leverage the technology capabilities of Reliance to offer digital products.
JFS plans to launch consumer and merchant lending business based on proprietary data analytics to complement and supplement the traditional credit bureau-based underwriting.
It will continue to evaluate organic growth, joint-venture partnerships as well as inorganic opportunities in insurance, asset management and digital broking segments, Reliance Industries had said in October.
Jio Financial Services will also onboard an experienced management team and adopt best-in-class governance and risk management practices.
Kamath, a trained mechanical engineer and an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management- Ahmedabad, started his career at ICICI in 1971.
In 1988, he moved to the Asian Development Bank and spent years in South-East Asia before returning to ICICI as managing director and chief executive officer.
Following its merger with ICICI Bank, Kamath became the managing director and chief executive of ICICI Bank.
Under his leadership, ICICI transformed into a diversified, technology-driven financial services group across banking, insurance and asset management in India, besides expanding its global presence.
After retiring as managing director in 2009, he continued to be the chairman till 2015.
He also served as the chairman of Infosys.
In 2015 he was appointed as the first president of the New Development Bank set up by BRICS countries, and retired in 2020.
At present, he is the chairman of National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID).
