The government on Friday announced appointments of Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) for five more banks besides declaring the names of non-executive Chairmen in five banks. However, these appointments are subject to the outcome of a writ petition filed in the Supreme Court, the government said.
The government’s move has raised questions over the rationale to make such announcements given the uncertainty.
In a departure from tradition, at least four of those appointed in the latest round have come from the private sector. The Finance Ministry is also looking at allowing private sector candidates to laterally come into middle management roles, Hasmukh Adhia, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, said at a press conference.
For Bank of Baroda, the non-executive Chairman and the Managing Director & CEO have come from the private sector.
While PS Jayakumar, MD & CEO of VBHC Value Homes, has been appointed Managing Director and CEO, Ravi Venkatesan, an independent director at Infosys, has been appointed non-executive Chairman.
Usha Ananthasubramanian, who is currently Chairperson of Bhartiya Mahila Bank, has been appointed MD & CEO of Punjab National Bank.
In the case of Bank of India, MO Rego — who is currently Deputy MD at IDBI Bank — has been appointed MD and CEO of the public sector bank. And, G Padmanabhan, retired Executive Director of the Reserve Bank of India, has been appointed non-executive Chairman.
For Canara Bank, the Centre has appointed Rakesh Sharma of Laxmi Vilas Bank, as the new MD & CEO. TN Manoharan, Director at Tech Mahindra’s public health foundation, has been appointed non-executive Chairman of Canara Bank.
G Narayanan, retired Executive Director of Indian Overseas Bank, is the new non-executive Chairman of Vijaya Bank.
TCV Subramanian, retired Chairman and Managing Director of Exim Bank, has been appointed the non-executive Chairman of Indian Bank.
The Centre has also appointed Kishore Kharat Piraji, Executive Director at Union Bank of India, as Managing Director and CEO of IDBI Bank
Adhia said that the entire selection process for the top posts in the five major banks — Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and IDBI Bank — has been transparent and based on merit.
A three-stage screening was conducted for MD’s position, culminating in a final interview by three different panels, he said.
Adhia also said that there are some vacancies of non-official directors on the board of PSBs and the selection process for these will be completed in the next three months.
The selection of non-executive chairmen in the remaining six PSBs will also be completed in the next three months. The appointment of MDs and CEOs in two other banks will also be done as early as possible, he said.