No significant shifting of gears: New SBI chief

There's a change of guard at the country's largest bank after five years. Pratip Chaudhuri has stepped into the big shoes of OP Bhatt as chairman of the State Bank of India .

In his customary media conference on his first day on Friday, Chaudhuri spelt out his agenda for the future. "We have been a leader in corporate bank for decades. We want to now consolidate our leadership position in the retail banking."  

Chaudhuri, who knows the nuts and bolts of SBI where he joined as the probationary officer some 37 years ago, says there is no significant shifting of gears.  

Fifty-seven-year-old Chaudhuri said his top priority would be on containing non-performing assets (NPAs) which have slipped a bit and also focus on growth in deposits and advances. "The growth so far in the top line (deposits and advances) is close to industry averages. We want to better that," he said.

There is no threat to SBI's supremacy as it leads by miles when it comes to profits, assets, deposits, branches and employees in the banking industry. But the market-savvy ICICI Bank follows SBI very closely in terms of market capitalization. SBI has a market capitalization of Rs 1,76,000 crore as against ICICI Bank's Rs 1,26,113 crore. 

This seasoned banker says the Indian banking industry is too fragmented. Chaudhuri, who also headed State Bank of Saurashtra where he piloted its merger with SBI, says the course of merger and amalgamation of associate banks with SBI would continue.

"We now have the experience of merging two associate banks with SBI. We will use this learning as we go along with the merger of other associate banks where we hold 74 per cent to 100 per cent," said Chaudhuri. The other associate banks for the merger roll are State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Hyderabad. 

Prior to taking over as chairman, Chaudhuri was deputy managing director (international banking group) of the bank. Chaudhuri, however, doesn't sound too keen on making acquisitions abroad like his predecessor OP Bhatt, who put a halt on the acquisition of small bank abroad.  "We will follow the Infosys mantra. No acquisition just for the sake of it," said Chaudhuri.