Nomura Appoints Prabhat Awasthi as New Head of India

Mr. Awasthi is based in Mumbai and will be responsible for running Nomura’s India franchise spanning fixed income, equities and investment banking. Vikas Sharma, current Head of India, has been elevated to Head of Asia ex-Japan also from April 1 following his exceptional work leading and building Nomura’s India business over the past 10 years. Mr. Awasthi will report to Mr. Sharma.

“Prabhat’s appointment is recognition of his outstanding achievements as Head of Equities, India, and the excellent relationships he has built with key institutional clients,” said Mr. Sharma. “I am confident he will drive this young franchise to greater success as we embark on a journey to scale up our businesses in the country.”

“I am delighted to take up this role in a world-class organization such as Nomura, which also has a very strong social value system and consciousness,” said Mr. Awasthi. “My appointment from within also attests to Nomura’s culture of encouraging continuity of the leadership team, and I hope to work with all my colleagues to take the firm to the next level.”

Mr. Awasthi has about two decades of experience in the Indian equity markets, and assumed his current role at Nomura in 2011. He joined Nomura in October 2008 as Head of Equity Research, India, from Lehman Brothers, where he held the same position. Prior to that, he was a founding member of the Brics Securities business acquired by Lehman Brothers in 2007, and had stints at JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Crisil where he began his career in 1994. Mr. Awasthi completed his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.