Govt To Place Two Psu Banks Under Bureaucrats

The government has decided to appoint two bureaucrats from the banking division of the finance ministry_joint secretaries M Damodaran and Shekhar Agarwal_to head Indian Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank respectively.

Government sources said the appointments are temporary "until a regular chairman is appointed".

However, banking sources said a government representative as head of the Chennai-based Indian Bank is part of the plan to revamp the bank following the erosion of its net worth.

The top job in about a dozen banks fell vacant in the current fiscal, and the government last month began filling up the posts.

Already, S S Kohli, former chairman and managing director of Punjab & Sind Bank, has been appointed CMD of Punjab National Bank (PNB) and B Samal, executive director of Allahabad Bank, has been elevated as the bank's CMD, while V Leeladhar has become the new CMD of Union Bank.

 

Other banks where fresh appointments are due include Corporation Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Canara Bank, Dena Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Central Bank of India, Indian Bank and Uco Bank.

1999-2000 was an unprecedented year when practically the entire top echelon of the Indian PSU banking fraternity retired_-nearly thirteen chairman and about half a dozen executive directors.