
Ajaypal Singh Banga, whose turban marked his Sikhism in gatherings of the highest echelons of US and international business, was born in Pune in western India to a family that has roots in Jalandhar in Punjab. He received his bachelor’s degree from St Stephens College, Delhi and a postgraduate qualification in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He had worked for Nestle, PepsiCo and CitiBank before landing at MasterCard, where he worked his way up from chief operating officer, to president and chief executive officer, and finally to executive chairman.