Head hunting: BBB begins selection of PSU bank MDs

NEWLY-constituted Bank Board Bureau (BBB) has started the process of selection process of managing directors and CEOs of public sector banks.
The bureau, set up by the Narendra Modi government, has conducted its maiden interviews for appointments of MDs and CEOs at three PSU banks and interviewed 10 candidates who are currently serving as executive directors in various state-run banks.
One of the candidates was earlier shunted out by the government from a large PSU bank in connection with a dubious loan to Atlas group, a Gulf-based jewellery chain, says the report.
Among the candidates who appeared for the...
interview include K Veera Brahmaji Rao (PNB), BK Divakara (Central Bank of India), Ravindra Prabhakar Marathe (Bank of India), Mukesh Kumar Jain (Punjab and Sind Bank), NK Sahoo (Allahabad Bank), K Venkata Rama Moorthy (United Bank of India), Charan Singh (UCO Bank), Pawan Kumar Bajaj (Indian Overseas Bank), AK Rath (Andhra Bank) and RK Gupta (Bank of Maharashtra).
The interviews which were held at the Reserve Bank office were for managing directors and chief executives for Indian Overseas Bank, United Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra. This was the first job interview conducted by the BBB which started functioning from April 1 under the chairmanship of former national auditor CAG Vinod Rai.
It will be followed by the selection of executive directors of various public sector banks, though the process for the same is yet to begin. The government has already split the chairman and MD post of PSU banks.
Apart from Rai, the BBB comprises Anil Khandelwal (former chairman of Bank of Baroda), HN Sinor (former chief executive of the Indian Banks Association and the mutual funds body Amfi) and Roopa Kudva (former chief of Crisil).
The ex-officio members of the Bureau are R Gandhi, RBI deputy governor, Anjuly Chibb Duggal, financial services secretary and Ameising Luikham, secretary, Department of Public Enterprises.
Last week, 14 chief general managers of SBI appeared for the interview for the post of deputy managing directors. Apart from the 14 CGMs of the parent bank, three CGMs who are currently heading the associate banks of the SBI group were also interviewed. There are around seven positions of DMDs to be filled up at the bank during the current financial year.
Some of the top posts in the largest lender will be vacant this year. SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya will retire in September. VG Kannan, managing director of the bank, will be retiring next month.
The PSU banks are facing tough challenges primarily due to mounting NPAs. The 25 state-owned banks reported a total net loss of more than Rs 15,000 crore for FY16, compared with a combined net profit of Rs 37,974.5 crore in the previous year. Total gross Gross NPAs (GNPAs) for these banks crossed Rs 5 lakh crore at the end of March. At the end of March 2015, these were almost half at Rs 2.63 lakh crore. Stressed assets have necessitated provisions of over Rs 1.53 lakh crore.
The surge in GNPAs follows the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) directive, post an extensive asset quality review (AQR), to banks to come clean on stressed assets and make adequate provisions for them in the last two quarters of FY16.