Govt to interview candidates for CMD post in PSBs today

The government will interview 19 candidates for the posts of chairman and managing director in the public sector banks on Friday.

Seven CMD posts are currently vacant. One more will be vacated on December 31, after Vijaya Bank's CMD V Kannan retires.

Ashwini Kumar, who is the CMD of Dena Bank, has also been called for the interview. Kumar could be laterally moved to a larger bank. This is the first time in recent years that an existing CMD has been called for lateral transfer. Apart from Kumar, IDBI Bank's deputy managing director, B K Batra, and executive directors of other public sector banks will appear for the interview.

In October, the new government cancelled all the appointments that was decided by the previous UPA government. In November last year, the UPA government had chosen candidates for vacancies for the current financial year.

Three sub-committees have been formed to interview the candidates which will then submit its report to the governor of Reserve Bank of India - who is the head of the selection panel. This is also a first as earlier, only one committee interviewed the candidates.

Large banks like Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank are without a CMD. The other banks where the top post is vacant are United Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Syndicate Bank, and Oriental Bank of Commerce.

The government had said the vacancies will be filled up by the end of the month. Decision making process including loan sanctioning and human resources management has been hampered due to the absence of a chairman.