A day after the CBI named Usha Ananthasubramanian, MD and CEO, Allahabad Bank, in a chargesheet in connection with the ₹14,000-crore Nirav Modi scam, the bank’s board on Tuesday divested Ananthasubramanian from all her functional responsibilities with immediate effect.
The bank board also requested the government to make suitable arrangements for the smooth running of the bank.
Following the CBI chargesheet, the Finance Ministry had, on Monday, directed the removal of two existing PNB Executive Directors – Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan – and Usha Ananthasubramanian, who was the MD and CEO of Punjab National Bank between 2015 and 2017. Following the government’s direction, the PNB board had divested both the executive directors of all their financial and executive powers.
“The board of directors of the bank in its meeting held on the date has decided that Usha Ananthasubramanian, MD and CEO, be divested of all functional responsibilities of the bank with immediate effect, and the government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Financial Services, be requested to make suitable arrangements for the bank,” the bank said in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges on Tuesday. The Reserve Bank of India, which had placed Allahabad Bank under Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) in January this year, had on Monday imposed additional restrictions on the bank barring it from high-risk lending and raising high-cost deposits.
The central bank also restricted the bank from creation of non-banking assets, and had advised it to restrict itself from accessing or renewing wholesale or costly deposits or certificate of deposits.