Banks Board Bureau to hold first meeting on April 8

Banks Board Bureau (BBB), formed to advise the government on top-level appointments at public sector lenders, will hold its first meeting on April 8.
The meeting was earlier scheduled for April 2, a finance ministry official said.
Former CAG Vinod Rai has been appointed the chairman of BBB, which will initially function from Mumbai.
Other members include ICICI Bank's former joint managing H N Sinor, former CMD of Bank of Baroda Anil K Khandelwal and rating agency Crisil's former chief Rupa Kudva.
The bureau will give recommendations on appointment of directors in public sector banks and ways to tackle rising bad loans, among others.

There are 22 state-owned banks in India including SBI, IDBI Bank and Bharatiya Mahila Bank.

The government had earlier proposed to form BBB to replace the Appointments Board for appointment of Whole-Time Directors as well as non-executive chairmen of public sector banks (PSBs).
They will also constantly engage with the Board of Directors of all the PSBs to formulate appropriate strategies for their growth and development.
The bureau will search and select heads of state-owned banks and help them develop differentiated strategies of capital raising and innovative financial instruments.
It will also be responsible for selection of non-executive chairman and non-official directors on the boards.

The government wants to encourage boards of PSBs to restructure their business strategy and suggest the way forward for their consolidation and merger with other banks.