SBI Cards names Pallav Mohapatra as CEO

SBI Cards, the credit card joint venture between State Bank of India and GE Capital, today said it has appointed Pallav Mohapatra as its new chief executive officer. He succeeds Kadambi Narahari who superannuated on September 30, 2012.

Mohapatra has close to three decades of experience in the banking industry. He joined State Bank of India as a probationary officer in 1983. He has led the bank's credit appraisal team, has been vice president at State Bank of California (USA) and assistant general manager of overseas expansion and foreign offices.

He was the first managing director and chief executive of SBI SG Global Securities Services, a joint venture between State Bank of India and Societe Generale. He has also worked extensively on SBI's payments business project.

"SBI Cards continues being on a strong growth trajectory. In keeping with our value proposition to 'make life simple' (the core premise of our brand), we have been taking multiple initiatives both on the product and services innovation side to respond better to our customers and surpass their expectations," Mohapatra said in a statement.

"We will continue this strong focus as well as play the role of market leader in educating customers on spending responsibly and taking advantage of the various convenient options that a credit card offers," he added.

SBI Cards is currently the third largest credit card issuer in the country. Its cards portfolio was 2.42 million at the end of September, 2012 as per the data available with the Reserve Bank of India.

At SBI Cards Mohapatra will focus on consolidating the company's position in the credit card market in India.