FSIB meet on May 21-22 to select State Bank of India's next chief

In October 2023, SBI chief Dinesh Kumar Khara's tenure was extended until August 2024

The Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) is likely to meet on May 21-22 to recommend a candidate for the post of chairman of State Bank of India (SBI), said a person familiar with the matter.

“The FSIB will conduct interviews for the SBI chairman position on May 21-22 as the tenure of the current chairman (Dinesh Kumar Khara) is scheduled to end by August this year,” said the source.

The FSIB is an autonomous body responsible for making recommendations for appointing senior executives to public-sector financial institutions. Established in 2022, the bureau is headed by former Secretary of the Department of Personnel & Training, Bhanu Pratap Sharma, as its chairman, with the secretaries of the Department of Financial Services and the Department of Public Enterprises serving as its members, along with other expert members.

Queries emailed to State Bank of India and FSIB remained unanswered till press time.

The source added that the four managing directors (MDs) of SBI were the front-runners for the chairman’s post. SBI currently has four MDs — C S Setty, Ashwini Kumar Tewari, Alok Kumar Choudhary, and Vinay M Tonse. Choudhary is scheduled to retire on June 30. The FSIB has already recommended the name of Rana Ashutosh Kumar Singh as a managing director of SBI.

In October 2023, Khara’s tenure was extended until he attends the age of 63 on August 28, 2024. He was appointed as chairman of the country’s largest commercial bank on October 7, 2020. In 1984, Khara started his career in SBI as a probationary officer. He is a postgraduate in commerce and holds an MBA degree in Finance from Delhi University’s Faculty of Management Studies.

Traditionally, the central government has appointed internal candidates to the position of SBI chairman, barring a few exceptions. In 1985, the government appointed D N Ghosh, an Indian Audit and Account Services officer, as chairman. He was at the helm for almost four years. M N Goiporia, a career banker from the central bank of India, came on board as chairman in February 1990, and his stint lasted for about 2.5 years until the end of July 1992. Since then, internal candidates, starting with Dipankar Basu in February 1993, have occupied the corner office till now.

According to the annual report 2022-23 of SBI, it has 22,405 total branches and 65,627 ATMs across the country as of March 31, 2023.

(Abhijit Lele from Mumbai contributed to this story)