Banks Board Bureau recommends Dinesh Khara for SBI chairman post

Govt will take final call on appointment of SBI chairman. If selected, Khara would succeed Rajnish Kumar, whose term ends in October

The Banks Board Bureau on Friday recommended Dinesh Kumar Khara for the post of chairman of State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender. The government, however, will take the final call on the appointment. 

Khara, the senior-most managing director at SBI, who looks after global banking, associates, and subsidiaries, will replace Rajnish Kumar, whose term as chairman comes to an end on October 7.  

The Bureau, the headhunter for state-owned banks and financial institutions, said in a statement that it interviewed the four managing directors of SBI on Friday. “Keeping in view their performance in the interface and their overall experience, the Bureau recommends Dinesh Kumar Khara for the vacancy of chairman,” it said. 

The Bureau also recommended Challa Sreenivasulu Setty as the candidate on the reserve list for the post.

The two other MDs were Arijit Basu, who is slated to retire next month, and Ashwani Bhatia, who was appointed MD early this month.

According to convention, SBI’s chairman is appointed from a pool of serving managing directors at the bank.

Khara was appointed managing director on August 10, 2016, for a three-year term. Later, his term was extended by two years. He joined SBI as a probationary officer in 1984. He did his Masters in Business Administration from FMS, New Delhi, and is a postgraduate in Commerce. He is also a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB).  

In his career spanning 36 years, he has handled assignments in all facets of commercial banking, such as retail credit, SME/corporate credit, deposit mobilisation, international banking operations, and branch management.

He played a crucial role in merging five associate banks and Bhartiya Mahila Bank with SBI.