Now hiring: Centre to fill 25 top posts in financial institutions soon

The Union finance ministry needs to identify candidates for 25 key leadership positions in major public-sector financial institutions this calendar year.

 

These include positions of managing director (MD) of Union Bank of India, chairman of the Life Insurance Corporation, MD of India Infrastructure Finance Company, and MD of the Central Bank of India.   

The Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) will conduct interviews and prepare the shortlist of candidates. 

This list will then be forwarded to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for approval. 

The tenure of A Manimekhalai, MD and chief executive officer (CEO) of Union Bank of India, will end on June 2. She has an additional role as director at General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re), and that too will be vacant when her term ends.

Siddhartha Mohanty, CEO and MD of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), will end his tenure June 7. He had received an extension in July last year. 

The term of Padmanabhan Raja Jaishankar, MD of India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL), will be over on May 28. Swarup Kumar Saha, MD and CEO of Punjab & Sind Bank, will retire on June 2. 

  The FSIB, the head-hunter for directors of state-owned banks and other financial institutions, sends recommendations to the Department of Financial Services, which is in the finance ministry. The department forwards those to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). After the ACC clears the appointments, the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) notifies the names of the selected candidates.

  Along with this, some offices of non-executive chairmen in PSBs will be empty.

  Vijay Srirangan, non-executive chairman of Canara Bank, took office on November 7, 2022, and his term ends on November 6.

K G Ananthakrishnan of Punjab National Bank will end his term on November 6.

  Srinivasan Varadarajan, non-executive chairman of Union Bank of India, will retire the same day.

  Some offices of executive director (ED) will be vacant and are likely to be filled this year. Debashish Mukherjee, ED, Canara Bank, began his tenure in February 2018, and it will end on May 31. 

Joydeep Dutta Roy, ED, Indian Overseas Bank, will end his tenure in October this year.

  Earlier this year, the finance ministry in the Lok Sabha had said approximately 42 per cent of director positions on the boards of all 12 PSBs were vacant. 

“The government takes the required action to fill the vacancies at the earliest possible,” said Pankaj Chaudhary, minister of state, ministry of finance, in a written reply.