Bhatia will be the fourth managing director at the country’s largest lender. At present three other managing directors at the bank are – Arijit Basu, Dinesh Khara and C S Setti.
According to a government order, the Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet approved the proposal of the Department of Financial Services about Bhatia’s appointment.
In May 2020, the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) had recommended Bhatia's name for the post of managing director. Bhatia comes in place of P K Gupta, who retired on March 31. Bhatia is currently serving as a Deputy Managing Director (DMD) at the lender.
The BBB has also started the process for selecting the SBI chairman and has sought bio-datas of existing managing directors. The interviews are likely to be held next week, sources said.
The tenure of current Chairman Rajnish Kumar ends in October 2020.