SBI looks for Chairman Dinesh Khara’s successor; three names make it to top

State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Dinesh Khara will retire on August 28, and the next chairman would take charge the very day. The Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB), an autonomous body under the central government, will conduct interviews for the role on May 21 to recommend a name for the chairman’s post, as per reports. The final decision will be announced on the same day. 

According to a report by Livemint, the frontrunners for the role are three managing directors of SBI – CS Setty, Ashwini Kumar Tewari, and Vinay M Tonse. The fourth managing director, Alok Kumar Choudhury, is set to retire at the end of June. 

The FSIB is tasked with the responsibility of appointing senior executives to public sector financial institutions. 

The senior-most among the three candidates in Setty, who has spent nearly 36 years with SBI. Tewari, 57, is the youngest of the three who had joined the bank as a probationary officer in 1991. Tonse is the newest addition, who took charge as MD in November 2023. He too had joined the bank as a probationary officer in 1988. 

Whoever is appointed would have large shoes to fill. Under the tenure of Dinesh Khara, SBI’s financial performance vastly improved. The share price zoomed from Rs 250 levels to Rs 820 levels per share, said a former SBI official to the news site.

The bank reported a 23.98 per cent rise in its fourth-quarter (Q4 FY24) profit, at Rs 20,698 crore, from Rs 16,695 crore a year ago. Its interest earned grew 19.46 per cent to Rs 1.11 lakh crore during the quarter under review. SBI's operating profit for FY24 grew by 12.05 per cent YoY to Rs 93,797 crore; while operating profit for Q4 FY24 grew by 16.76 per cent YoY to Rs 28,748 crore.