MUMBAI, Dec. 8 -- SMFG India Credit has entered a reset moment. Months after its leadership change and the parent's deeper push into Indian financial services, the non-bank financier's new chief Ravi Narayanan has made one thing clear: before growth or product expansion, the house must be put firmly in order.

The priority is to overhaul the company's compliance and corporate governance standards to meet the expectations of both the Indian regulator and its Japanese promoters.

"There are group governance and expectations, thresholds, etc. The idea is to ensure that we wed ourselves completely to those expectations first," managing director and chief executive officer Ravi Narayanan told Mint in an interview. "The i's will be dotted and t...