Who will be the next SBI chief? Govt, BBB set to start hunt

SBI chairman Bhattacharya 

THE government along with Banks Board Bureau will soon commence the selection process for the next chairman of the State Bank of India, the country’s largest bank, as Arundhati Bhattacharya’s term ends in October. A senior government official told a national daily that the government intends to start the process...
early so that there is a smooth transition and the bank does not remain headless for a long period.
“We want to avoid a situation where for some reason the appointment gets delayed as seen in cases of some state-run lenders,” he said, adding such delays occurred despite getting vigilance clearances in advance.
All four managing directors of the bank – Rajnish Kumar, B Sriram, PK Gupta and Dinesh Kumar Khara – are in the running to succeed Bhattacharya. Gupta and Khara have longer tenures left and so have a stronger case. Kumar and Sriram are set to retire in 2018.
“We already have vigilance clearance for three MDs and if the process begins Appointed in 2013 as the bank’s first woman chairman, Bhattacharya got a one-year extension in October 2016 as SBI was in the process of merging its associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank with itself.
Once that took place in April, SBI accounted for nearly a quarter of all outstanding bank loans in India. It took nearly seven years after State Bank of Indore was merged with the country’s largest lender to complete this consolidation.
A senior BBB functionary said the government should look to offer a fixed tenure.
“It is for the government to take a call on these matters. The role of BBB is to select the best candidate available, keeping in mind the long-term interest of the bank,” he said.
In 2015, while selecting private sector candidates for five large public sector banks (PSBs), the government had offered fixed three-year tenures subject to the superannuation age of 60 years. The same year management reforms in PSBs were initiated and the post of chairman and managing director-cum-CEO was split, except for SBI.
Arundhati Bhattacharya made it to the coveted Forbes' list of 25 most powerful women in the world
She ranked as the fourth most powerful woman in the Asia-Pacific region by Fortune magazine
She was India's nominee for the post of managing director and chief operating officer at World Bank. She is the first woman to be the Chairperson of State Bank of India. In 2016, she was listed as the 25th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.
She was due for retirement in October 2016, but has been granted an extension till October 2017.