Khandelwal, Venugopalan To Be Vijaya, Syndicate Bank Cmds

The Centre has zeroed in on A K Khandelwal, executive director, Bank of Baroda, and M Venugopalan, executive director, Union Bank of India, to take over as the chairman and managing director (CMD) of Bangalore-headquartered Vijaya Bank and Manipal-headquartered Syndicate Bank, respectively.

Present CMDs of Syndicate Bank and Vijaya Bank, D T Pai and S Gopalakrishnan, respectively, will step down in January.

Interviews for the two posts took place on Friday in Delhi. Earlier this month, the government had called for applications from six public sector bank executive directors to be appointed as CMDs of the two banks. This is a departure from the normal practice of selecting a CMD based on his seniority as also capability in the empanelled list of the government.

The government had invited applications from the executive directors of Bank of India (O N Singh), Vijaya Bank (Michael Bastian), Syndicate Bank (M S Kapur) and Oriental Bank (V K Chopra), apart from Khandelwal and Venugopalan.

According to industry sources, the government is increasingly experimenting with new ways to scout for suitable candidates to head institutions in the financial sector. The first sign of change in this regard came when it invited applications from eligible insiders and outsiders last year for the post of CMD of the Industrial Development Bank of India.

The government, after lot of procrastination, finally appointed former National Housing Board chairman P P Vora for the post. The Centre has also invited applications for the post of the Sebi chairman. The present incumbent D R Mehta is slated to retire in February. A couple of months back, IDBI, which holds majority stake in UTI, invited applications from eligible candidates for the post of an executive trustee of UTI, which is also a departure from the normal practice. The outcome of the move is yet to be known.