Raghu Palat

Raghu Palat is an Indian business writer, columnist and banker. He is a qualified chartered accountant A pioneer of business writing in India, he began writing at a time when there was a dearth of information of finance related subjects. He specialized in investments and taxation and had five weekly newspaper columns. He is the MD of Institute of Banking and Communication, which holds courses in business etiquette. He has remained CEO of Bank Internationale Indonesia (BII) and chief of staff, American Express Bank.

He has written and has published over 30 books on subjects ranging from investments to business writing and management skills. His book "Bank of India Story" was released by the his excellency Abdul Kalam, President of India in the presence of Mr. Chidambaram, Finance Minister of India. Another book of his on retail banking was released by Mr. Jayantrao Patil, Finance Minister of Maharashtra.

Family
He comes from an illustrious family. Palat is the great grandson of his Highness, the late Rama Varma, Maharaja of Cochin and Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair (a past President of the Indian National Congress and a member of the Viceroy’s Privy Council, is a banker, consultant, writer and teacher. He spent his childhood in Coonoor, Kerala.

Career
He is an educationalist and is Dean Banking at Welingkar Institute of Management Research and the promoter of the institute of Banking and Business Communication. The Sheriff of Mumbai, Dr. Indu Shahani, called him "a brilliant teacher." He is also on the executive Committee of the Indian Cancer Society and the Indian Heritage Society, Mumbai Chapter. As a professional and as a banker he is highly respected. He is also on the board of several public limited companies such as Transwarranty Finance Ltd. and Bhart Axa Trustee Services Ltd. Earlier as a nominee of UTI, he was on the board of Century Textiles, Lupin and other companies.

Presently, he is the Managing Director of Cortlandt Rand Consultancy, a company that specializes in financial restructuring, new initiatives and developing strategies. In addition he is also a Director of Cheque Mate Infotech Private Limited. This Company manages a finance and banking focused portal called bankingrules.com. In addition, the Company conducts workshops in soft skills (effective business writing, business etiquette, presentation skills etc.), banking and finance. These include companies such as Ernst and Young, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Ambit, RSM, Standard Chartered Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, LOWE (Lintas), the Murugappa Group, Axis Bank, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Development Credit Bank, Infosys Technologies and Hexaware.

Mr. Palat is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He has the honour of being the first foreigner to be in charge of the audit of the Bank of England. He is a career banker and was with American Express Bank and was the Regional Head for South Asia for his function and the Senior Director for Strategy and New Initiatives. He left American Express to set up the Indian operations of a South East Asian Bank and was its country head for two years. He left this to become an entrepreneur. He went to Africa (Kenya) to restructure two banks. In India he was involved in the restructuring of Bank of Punjab. He has developed several financial products.

Personal life
His daughter Divya Palat, a Stanford graduate is an actor and model.