Veteran housing finance leader with over three decades of experience joins to drive RHDFCL’s next phase of growth
His appointment as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer will be effective from July 1, 2026
New Delhi, India, Religare Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (RHDFCL), a Housing Finance Company (HFC) focused on serving the underserved and informal segments in India, and a step-down subsidiary of Religare Enterprises Limited (REL), announced the appointment of Mr. Pavan K. Gupta as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). With over three decades of experience in building, scaling, and transforming housing finance and mortgage businesses across India, Mr. Gupta brings the strategic depth and disciplined execution capability that RHDFCL requires as it enters its next phase of growth, catalysed by the promoters of REL, the Burman Group.
Mr. Gupta’s role will be to drive sustainable and profitable growth at RHDFCL by strengthening the company’s risk architecture scaling the loan book, and technology enhancements. His priorities will include diversifying RHDFCL’s funding base, maintaining strong capital and ALM discipline, and leading technology-enabled transformation across origination, underwriting, and collections to enhance efficiency and customer experience while staying firmly anchored to RHDFCL’s core mission of expanding access to housing finance for low-income and informal-sector families.
Mr. Indranil Choudhury, Group CHRO, Religare Enterprises Limited said, “We are pleased to welcome Pavan as CEO of RHDFCL. He is a known industry veteran and someone who has navigated the full cycle of a housing finance business, from the ground up to meaningful scale. RHDFCL is entering an important growth phase, and Pavan’s deep understanding of the sector, coupled with his hands-on leadership approach, makes him the right person to lead this journey. With Religare’s strong financial foundation and the steadfast support of our promoters, we are committed to building a scalable and customer-focused housing finance franchise. We look forward to working closely with Pavan as we strengthen RHDFCL’s position in the affordable housing finance market.”
In his previous stint of nearly nine years, Mr. Gupta led a significant business transformation, growing Assets Under Management to ₹3,000 crore, strengthening profitability and asset quality, securing successive CRISIL rating upgrades to A+, expanding the branch network to 162 locations, and diversifying the company’s funding profile through multiple capital market instruments.
Speaking on his appointment, Mr. Pavan K. Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, RHDFCL, said, “I am delighted to join RHDFCL at what is clearly a defining moment in its journey. The opportunity to build a resilient, technology-enabled housing finance franchise that genuinely serves underserved and informal-sector families is one I find deeply meaningful. I look forward to working with the team to strengthen our fundamentals, scale with disciplined governance, and create lasting value for all our customers, employees, and stakeholders.”
Before joining RHDFCL Mr. Gupta’s most recent assignment was as CEO of Muthoot Housing Finance Company Limited. Prior to this, he spent 17 years across Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL), Deutsche Postbank Home Finance Limited, and BHW Birla Home Finance Limited, progressing through senior roles including Business Head, South & West and Head of International Business at DHFL. During these assignments Mr. Gupta led significant regional expansion, scaled mortgage portfolios across multiple geographies, and built and managed high-performing teams across India’s housing finance landscape.
Mr. Gupta is a Chartered Financial Analyst from ICFAI, Hyderabad, where he secured an All India Rank of 1 in Level 3. Mr. Gupta also holds an MBA in Marketing & Finance from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar (University Rank 2), and a B.Sc. in Physics (Honours), also from Utkal University (University Rank 7). He has been recognised as a Most Admiring BFSI Leader by the World BFSI Congress (2022), was ranked among the Top 60 CEOs in India by StartupLanes (2022), and was also named Star Leader of the Year at DHFL (2012).
