HSBC India signs cricketer Virat Kohli as brand influencer

HSBC India on Wednesday announced signing up Indian cricketer Virat Kohli as its brand influencer.

As part of the association, a multi-media campaign featuring Virat Kohli will bring to life the value proposition of banking with HSBC, a statement said. Sandeep Batra, Head of Wealth and Personal Banking, HSBC India, said, ''Cricket is a unifying force and strikes an emotional chord with the Indian diaspora across the world.'' Kohli is in Chandigarh as part of the IPL RCB team which will take on Punjab Kings in a T-20 cricket match to be played in Mohali on Thursday.

When asked at an event here what commonalities he finds between cricket and financial planning, Kohli replied, ''You need to be aware of the situation you're in''.

''I think it's not just playing Test matches. I think playing any kind of sport or in my case playing any format of the game. Firstly, you need to be aware of the situation you're in, the understanding of where you stand and what needs to be done is the primary starting point from where you can say okay, this is the plan forward,'' Kohli said.

''This is what I'm going to try and follow and then you commit to it. Your plan obviously can be altered along the way, but the bigger plan does not change, which is hard work, commitment, patience, determination. The way you go about it might alter in between according to the situation changing again, but it's a long-term commitment, for sure,'' said Kohli. He then said if one talks about, say playing T-20 game, commitment over three and a half hours of how you want to play the game does not change. ''Your tactics might change along the way, but the sheer focus on the goal does not change. Similarly for ODIs and Test matches more so because you need to do it over a considerable amount of time and the game doesn't allow you to.. like situations in your in your financial profiling as well, It might not allow you to be aggressive and take risks all the time. ''It might want you to be patient four or five six hours where we just need to stand there and make sure that you don't lose your wicket and then the rewards of it you get the next day maybe in one session where you could take the game away and eventually come out as the winner. So I think it's very similar for me when you want to handle your finances as well,'' said Kohli in his reply. Kohli mentioned that one needs to have firstly trust in the plan that's being laid out. Secondly, the will to follow that plan regardless of the ups and downs. ''So it's a similar feeling, I look at HSBC India as a focused and trusted financial partner to help achieve my financial goals.'' When asked what does association with HSBC India mean for him, to this, Kohli said, ''Obviously, being one of the world's premier financial organizations for so many years, having such a strong work ethic and their disciplined approach towards handling finances for people it's, as I said, just felt right just felt very natural, very easy to be associated with HSBC.''