Rajnish Kumar wants to make SBI a 'Divya and Bhavya' bank

In his first communication to SBI group employees, Kumar says a bank is as good as its frontline people

Giving primacy to fair dealing with customers, State Bank of India’s new chairman Rajnish Kumar said politeness and ethical conduct with stakeholders were key to staying ahead in the highly competitive marketplace.  

Kumar, along with his colleagues, wants to transform the country’s largest lender into a “Divya and Bhavya Bank”.

In his first communication to SBI group employees, he said that a bank is as good as its frontline people. They are the face of the bank. They make what SBI brand stands for.

“We may have best of products, technology, ambience but if we are not courteous and polite to our customers, our business will not endure. We will not progress. Politeness is what builds a "Great Bank"”.

“I read somewhere that a man without a smiling face must not open a shop. This is the finest expression of the spirit of service organisation that I have ever come across”.

Banking must stick to strong ethical standards. To do so, conduct must be absolutely clean. But clean conduct requires that we follow the rules of governance and principles of strong ethics. SBI has always stood for highest ethical standards in the country, he said.

Rajnish Kumar coined acronym STEPS which captures values like Strong Ethics, Transparent & High Standards of Corporate Governance, Empathy & compassion, Politeness and Sincerity.