Ashwini Bhatia, who is currently serving as the Managing Director (MD) and CEO at SBI Mutual Fund, has emerged as a frontrunner for the post of next State Bank of India (SBI) MD by the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) on Saturday.
The governing body has also recommended the names of MV Rao and P P Sengupta for the post of MD at the Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank. Rao is currently serving as Executive Director with Canara Bank while Sengupta is Deputy Managing Director (DMD) at SBI.
BBB members interfaced with 20 contenders from several nationalised banks on May 30 for the said positions, according to an official statement.
Bhatia will be appointed in place of P K Gupta who superannuated on March 31, while Rao will replace Central Bank of India MD Pallav Mohapatra, who will retire in February next year. Sengupta will replace Indian Overseas Bank MD and CEO Karnam Sekar, who retires on June 30.
With this exercise, the government has completed the process of appointment of head of PSU banks for the current fiscal year. The decision on the appointment will be taken by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
BBB, the headhunter for state-owned banks and financial institutions, is headed by former Department of Personnel and Training Secretary B P Sharma.
PM Modi in 2016, approved the constitution of BBB as a body of eminent professionals and officials to make recommendations for the appointment of whole-time directors as well as non-executive chairpersons of public sector banks (PSBs).
It was also entrusted with the task of engaging with the board of directors of all PSBs to formulate appropriate strategies for their growth and development.
BBB was also asked to frame strategy discussion on consolidation based on requirement. The government wanted to encourage bank boards to restructure their business strategy and also suggest ways for their consolidation and merger with other banks.
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