Govt headhunter suggests P R Jaishankar's name for IIFCL MD post

After almost a three-year gap, the Banks Board Bureau, the headhunter for state-run banks and financial institutions, has been able to find a suitable candidate to head India Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFCL).

The BBB, headed by former Secretary Department of Personnel and Training B P Sharma, has zeroed in on P R Jaishankar, the executive director at National Housing Bank, for the post of managing director of IIFCL.

The post has been lying vacant since June 13, 2017.

The chairman and members of the Banks Board Bureau interviewed various candidates on March 14, 2020, and it recommended Jaishankar's name for the MD position, the Bureau said in a statement.

It took three attempts to find a suitable candidate for the post of MD and CEO of IIFCL.

According to sources, Jaishankar has been facing interview since 2017 when the government had first invited application for the job. He was then chief general manager with IIFCL.

No one was found suitable from among the list of applicants in 2017. Subsequently, another failed attempt was made 2018. The government-appointed panel in March 2019 interviewed candidates for the post but did not find any one suitable to lead the organisation.

The government for the third time invited applications in May last year, which reached its logical conclusion.

The Bureau interfaced with 19 candidates from various public and private organisations on March 14, 2020 for two vacancies of deputy managing director (DMD) in EXIM Bank; one vacancy of DMD in SIDBI, IFCI Ltd and IIFCL each besides the vacancy of MD in IIFCL, it said.

Keeping in view their performance in the interface and their overall experience, it said, the Bureau recommends Lekhan Thakkar for the vacancy of DMDs in EXIM Bank (vacancy arose on 16.08.2017) and Harsha Bangari (vacancy arose on 21.07.2019) while N Ramesh and Sudatta Mandal as the candidate on the Reserve List respectively.

It has recommended Sunil Kumar Bansal for DMD in IFCI, Pawan Kumar for DMD in IIFCL and V S V Rao for the DMD in SIDBI.

The decision on the appointment will be taken by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Prime Minister, in 2016, approved the constitution of BBB as a body of eminent professionals and officials to make recommendations for appointment of whole-time directors as well as non-executive chairpersons of public sector banks (PSBs) and state-owned financial institutions.

It was also entrusted with the task of engaging with the board of directors of all PSBs to formulate appropriate strategies for their growth and development.

Besides, it was asked to frame a strategy discussion on consolidation based on the requirement. The government wanted to encourage bank boards to restructure their business strategy and also suggest ways for their consolidation and merger with other banks.