Know more about Rajnish Kumar, SBI’s new boss, who is also a good badminton player

Rajnish Kumar, SBI new boss

THE Centre on October 4 named Rajnish Kumar as the new chairman of the country's largest lender State Bank of India. Kumar, aged 59 years, joined the SBI board on May 26, 2015. Kumar, currently a managing director with the bank, joined SBI as a probationary officer in 1980. Kumar holds a master's degree in physics and is a CAIIB. He an avid traveller and a good badminton player.
Arundhati Bhattacharya, the current chairman of SBI will step down from her post on October 6.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has...
approved the appointment of Kumar for a period of three years from October 7, according to an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). Kumar joined SBI as a probationary officer in 1980 and has worked in various departments. Before becoming MD, national banking group, Kumar was heading the merchant banking arm of the bank, SBI Capital Markets, as managing director and CEO.
Bhattacharya took the top job in October 2013. Last year, the government awarded a one-year extension to the typical three-year term. She was the first woman to lead the bank, climbing up its ranks after joining in 1977.
The Banks Board Bureau had interviewed all four SBI managing directors for the top position. Apart from Kumar and Gupta, the other two managing directors are B Sriram and Dinesh Kumar Khara.
The new head of the bank will have to lead it through the ongoing resolution of NPAs. Bad loans are seen as a systemic risk while credit growth is a key element of India's economic revival strategy.
In 2015, while selecting private sector candidates for five large state-owned banks, the government had offered fixed three-year tenures subject to superannuation at 60. Management reforms in public sector banks were initiated the same year and the post of chairman and managing director-cum-CEO was split except for SBI.
Kumar has more than 30 years of experience in Banking Industry. He served as Deputy Managing Director at State Bank of India since May 2014 and served as its Chief General Manager of North Eastern since April 26, 2012. He served as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at SBI Capital Markets Limited from July 31, 2014 to June 22, 2015. Prior to this, he served as Head of the Project Finance and Leasing SBU of the State Bank of India as the Chief General Manager. He has vast experience in handling large credit, project finance, foreign exchange and retail banking. He served as Chief Executive Officer and Regional Head at State Bank of India (UK).
He served as also the Deputy General Manager and General Manager (NW-II) in Pune. He served as a Vice President (Credit) in SBI Toronto (Canada) Branch. He has been a Nominee Director of SBI Life Insurance Company Limited since March 28, 2016. He has been a Director of State Bank of India since May 26 2015. He serves as a Director of SBI Foundation. He served as Director of North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd. He has held several key assignments across various business verticals, including two overseas assignments in Canada and the UK.