Sandeep Thapliyal will step down as 's head of commercial andinvestment banking to become CEO of Avendus Finance Pvt. Ltd., Mint reported July 18, citing "twopeople aware of the development."

Avendus Finance was floated by Avendus Capital Pvt. Ltd.,which is majorityowned by U.S. private equity firm .

Thapliyal will move to Avendus Finance by September. He hasalready informed RBL of his departure but will stay with the bank due to hisimportant role in the bank's proposed IPO, one of the sources said.

RBL Bank is expected to open its IPO in the first week ofAugust. The bank could raise about 15 billion rupees in the offering.

An RBL Bank spokesman denied that Thapliyal has resigned,while KKR and Avendus Capital declined to comment, the publication said.Thapliyal did not answer calls and emails sent to him by Mint.

As of July 15, US$1was equivalent to 67.08 Indian rupees.