The challenges facing S S Mundra, the new chairman and managing director of public sector lender Bank of Baroda, are different from the ones his peers have to deal with. While most state-owned banks are grappling with asset quality headwinds, Bank of Baroda is quite comfortable on that front. The lender has managed to maintain a decent gross and net non-performing asset ratio in comparison to other banks, despite some problems in asset quality.
However, Mundra says, “ There cannot be any room for complacency in this challenging economic environment. Maintaining the asset quality is a challenge.”
Mundra is no newbie to the bank. He was with Bank of Baroda for almost three decades before he quit to join Union Bank of India as executive director in September 2010.
The new chairman holds a Master's in Commerce. He joined Bank of Baroda in 1977 as a probationary officer. In his first stint with the bank, he looked after a range of portfolios like treasury, credit, and served as the zonal head for the Maharashtra & Goa zone.
He had been in Bank of Baroda’s treasury function from 2001 to 2005, and then again in 2007. He has worked in various treasury functions, including money market operations, treasury back office and front office, and as general manager of the entire treasury operations.
His experience as chief executive of Bank of Baroda’s UK Operations for 3 years, will also help the bank immensely as Bank of Baroda is one of the few Indian banks with significant international operations. He has also worked at Bank’s subsidiary in Uganda during 1994-1997.
Mundra is credited for the successful follow-on public issue of the bank in 2006. According to Mundra, one of his top priorities will be to focus on the much-neglected human resources of the bank. The Reserve Bank of India has marked the current decade as the decade of retirement for public sector banks and Bank of Baroda is no exception to that.
“All the public-sector banks will see a lot of superannuation taking place in the next 2-3 years. The challenge is to groom new leaders within the bank who can drive the Indian banking in the coming years,” Mundra says.
Mundra is an avid reader. His interests range from leadership and literature to banking, yoga and philosophy. He hopes to build on Bank of Baroda's already well-entrenched position and keep its leadership position intact in the future.
