Former State Bank of India chief Rajnish Kumar joins BharatPe as chairman

Rajnish Kumar, former chief of State Bank of India, has joined the Board of BharatPe, a fintech firm, as chairman.

He will be involved in defining the company’s short-term and long-term strategies, and will so work closely with the other Board Members and CXOs on key business and regulatory initiatives, BharatPe said in a statement.

BharatPe-Centrum Capital have received an in-principle nod from the Reserve Bank of India to set up a small finance bank which would take over ailing Punjab Maharashtra Bank.  

Rajnish Kumar completed the term as chairman of country's largest lender SBI in October 2020. At present, Kumar is also working as advisor (resource raising) to Andhra Pradesh government. He is also an independent non-executive director at HSBC Bank, Asia and L&T Infotech.

He will also advice and counsel the management of BharatPe on matters on business performance and corporate governance.

Kumar also served as the managing director of the National Banking Group, and the managing director (Compliance & Risk) of SBI. The senior bank official earlier headed the SBI Capital Markets Ltd (the merchant banking arm of SBI) as managing director and chief executive officer.