Dr. Sindhu Bhaskar

Steadfast, strong-visioned, and zealous

Steadfast, strong-visioned, and zealous about developing the banking industry, Dr. Sindhu Bhaskar commenced his professional life as a banker after spending his early days as a student, research scholar and teaching assignments at Punjab University in 1986. With experience panning out to several years and different countries, he realized that banks are unable to incorporate development strategies. In his own words, “They have been elitist and profit-hungry.” To fill this void, he created a digital banking platform for financial inclusion and development, offering digital partnerships to financial institutions in India, Latin America, and Africa.

Dr. Sindhu, the Co-chairman and Founder of EST Global Inc., deeply contemplated India’s loan situation- mostly only big corporates get loans, while poor farmers end up committing suicides. “There has been the bigger chunk of the population which is unbanked and underbanked. All this spurred me to create banking for development by creating financial inclusion,” he says. His agenda for development includes reaching out to the lowest segments, thus contributing to the fintech revolution.

Built from the mind and heart, Dr. Sindhu’s platform is unlike the other trickledown theories because it advances from the bottom of the hierarchy. What also makes EST Global Inc. unique is its cap on the interest rates. Furthermore, he adds, “We are creating an ecosystem model which means creating clusters of growth centers which will be interacting with each other thus the banking will create a composite banking model.”

None of this was easy, though. Creating and launching the platform was a taxing process, and it initially drained out his energy and resources. Being a bootstrapped platform with no seed money, Dr. Sindhu had to invest his own resources. “It is no hyperbole to say that there is no personal life right now, and I don’t regret it. Every hour is devoted to the platform to develop, activate, and scale its various facets. I am also the model to keep its banner flying high,” he expresses.

EST Global Inc. is an impact platform, and so, it does not have a pure business or profit-centric model philosophy. This initiative is Dr. Sindhu’s mission, and he is still exceptionally motivated to grow this business. He progresses with the business ethic of devoting everything he can to his business, which he prefers to call his passion, as he believes that his supervision will lead to the flawless development of his platform. Given the same, he thoughtfully avoided launching anything new during the pandemic, knowing it isn’t the kind of business that could endure online.

Dr. Sindhu wishes to return something to the society that has given him so much. He opines that despite so many years of freedom, India still struggles with many disparities in society. “India is too big; nothing can happen immediately, but we can make a serious beginning. A task well begun is always half done.” It is thoughts like these that make him one of the most admired global Indians today.

A clear vision of the platform, leading from the front, creating a dedicated team of techies (and taking care of them during the pandemic), international speakership, and acting as the model and the brand ambassador for the platform coalesce to form Dr. Sindhu’s strengths. But every successful person comes with learning from his mistakes and weaknesses. Some of his weaknesses are embracing an informal approach than mixing this up and over trusting. He tries giving in to these with clear introspective skills.

Besides winning several awards when in the banking industry, Dr. Sindhu is also a recipient of many awards in the fintech field. Some such nominations include the Top Executive Award, a listing in Marquis Who’s Who, 3rd position in the World CEO of the year 2020, and Top 100 Finance, Professional. Several of his fintech articles have been published alongside receiving felicitations as a global speaker.

But it’s not just finance and banking that makes Dr. Sindhu a celebrated person. He is also a poet and has won several awards for it like, the Asia Pacific Poetry Award and publication of his anthology.

Successfully pacing in his professional journey, Dr. Sindhu Bhaskar continues to work hard with the mantra, “There is no shortcut to success. A durable success comes with a clear vision, honest effort, and constant action.” He also advocates showing gratitude to our parents and respecting nature. “That can be the only durable legacy which we can leave behind.”