PSBs face delay in top appointments; temporary postings also in limbo

Both Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda are yet to get temporary heads

The Narendra Modi government, which claims to have made decision making process fast tracked, be it bringing ordinances or giving marching orders to secretaries, is yet solve the puzzle around appointment of chief executives in public sector banks that are historically marred by inordinate delays in this regard.

After cancelling all prospective appointments made by the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA)  government shortly after assuming charge at the centre in May last year, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government decided to took a fresh look at candidates for appointments in eight public sector banks.

In December, the government decided to split the chairman and managing director’s position and announced the appointment of chief executive officer and managing director in four public sector banks – Indian Overseas Bank, United Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Vijaya Bank. It said the appointment of MD & CEO in Syndicate Bank would be made shortly. All these five banks are classified as Category B, having business mix of less than Rs 5 lakh crore. 

For category A banks, which have a business mix of more than Rs 5 lakh crore, the government said a fresh process would be followed. There were three A category banks in which top posts were vacant – Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank.

Since the process of appointing MD & CEO in large banks would have taken time, the government decided to give additional charge of MD & CEO to the seniormost executive directors of these three banks.

However, as of today, only Canara Bank’s  executive director V S Krishnakumar is holding the additional charge of MD & CEO, which was ‘entrusted’ on him January 1. The appointment was made for a 3-month period.  

The government is yet to clear files for Bank of Baroda’s executive director Ranjan Dhawan and Punjab National Bank’s executive director Gauri Shankar, who were scheduled to get the additional charge. 

In addition, n MD & CEO is yet to be appointed for Syndicate Bank, despite the selection committee having recommended Bank of India’s executive director Arun Srivastava. The Manipal-based lender’s top position fell vacant after SK Jain’s tenure was terminated by the government in August last year over corruption charges.

In addition, non-executive chairmen are yet to be appointed in the banks that have a full time MD & CEO. 


(Manojit Saha is Banking Editor at Business Standard)