We all know that money is power, but there are only a few people who know how to make the best use of money and the inherent power that comes with it. And if you want to know how it can be made use of, then there is no one better than Vishal Pandit, President, GE Countrywide Consumer Financial Services, who could give you some useful tips. This probably also explains the reason why GE Countrywide Consumer Financial Services is amongst the fastest growing Indian retail finance services. A postgraduate from Delhi School of Economics and an MBA from FMS, Delhi University, Pandit worked for almost ten years with ICI India Limited in various roles and joined GE Countrywide as General Manager, Business Development in 1994.

He has also played a pivotal role in setting up India's first captive auto finance company, Maruti Countrywide Auto Financial Services Ltd with Suzuki Corporation and HDFC, way back in 1996. After serving Countrywide until 1998, he was later made the CEO of SBI Cards & Payments Services Limited, a new joint venture between GE Capital and the State Bank of India, which achieved the fastest growth in credit card numbers. But it was in 2003 that he was appointed the President and CEO of GE Consumer Finance and since then he hasn't looked back. Pandit's claim to fame came with the launch of GE Money brand in India in 2004, where he played a crucial role in popularizing the brand and helped it make inroad into the Indian market.

The GE Money, under the stewardship of Pandit now plans to triple its revenues over the next three years to enter a growth cycle where it can play to the strength and diversity of GE like never before. With distribution being a key success driver GE Money India, under Pandit's visionary leadership has embarked on a major retail finance expansion. From a current presence of 118 branches in 50 cities, GE Money is now expanding its presence to 228 branches across 110 cities. The future of GE Money, as market analysts say is full of hopes.

India has already been identified as one of the four BRIM countries apart from Brazil, Russia and Mexico as GE Money's four focus markets. And with India growing at the rate of 40% annually in the segment, there doesn't seem to be any looking back. Moreover, GE Consumer has a strong backing with an asset base of $970 m in India, which is about 15% of its total Asian asset base. GE Consumer Finance, now GE Money, is the third-largest business unit of GE globally with assets of $117 bn. But the biggest asset and the vital force of GE Money is none other than Pandit, who is sure to transform its growth trajectory to newer heights.