Former colleagues recall he slipped out almost unnoticed, without tearful farewells or parting shots to colleagues. That low-key demeanour has characterised Mr Pandit ever since he left his native Nagpur, in central India, and moved to New York to attend Columbia University in the early 1970s.

But as chief executive of Citigroup – the ailing financial behemoth he has been running since December – Mr Pandit's efforts to stay out of the limelight have been fruitless. Citi's share price has disintegrated amid fears it will add billions of dollars in fresh losses to the $50bn-plus (￡34bn, €40bn) in writedowns it has already suffered. This week the shares halved, putting the 51-year-old executive under huge pressure to save Citi, and himself, from a grim future, which could involve a fire-sale, a break-up, or even a government takeover.

Mr Pandit's allies within Citi – a company that has often been riven by infighting among rival factions – insist that he can lead the bank out of the turmoil. “Do I think he is the right guy to pull Citi out of this? Yes,” says Stephen Volk, one of Citi's many eminence grises who has known Mr Pandit for decades.