Following the finance ministry’s decision to review the proposed appointments of top posts in public sector banks,
T M Bhasin, chairman and managing director of Indian Bank, might be heading for Bank of Baroda, with UCO Bank CMD Arun Kaul slated to head Bangalore-based Canara Bank.
Earlier, the ministry, during Pranab Mukherjee’s tenure, had abolished the process of lateral movement for top posts in large PSBs. Executive directors were promoted to head large banks such as Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and Bank of India. It is learnt that Finance Minister P Chidambaram has not accepted the earlier recommendations on EDs for heading large PSBs. The proposed appointments in BoB and Canara Bank would be changed, as CMDs of smaller banks would now head these large banks. But, the earlier proposal of sending Vijayalakshmi Iyer, ED at Central Bank of India, to Bank of India has been retained.
Bhasin would now replaced by S S Mundra, executive director of Union Bank of India, who will now take charge of Indian Bank. R K Dubey, ED at Central Bank of India, will now go to Kolkata-based UCO Bank.
The ministry has also retained the earlier recommendation regarding Allahabad Bank and United Bank of India’s new CMDs. Shubhalakshmi Panse of Vijaya Bank and Archana Bhargava of Canara Bank will take charge of the two Kolkata-based lenders, Allahabad Bank and UBI, respectively. The proposal for Panse to head Allahabad Bank was immediately cleared by Chidambaram, as she was moving to a B-category bank and wasn’t affected by the committee’s recommendation of disallowing lateral movement in A-category banks, an official said.
Large banks such as BoB and Canara, with a total business of more than Rs 3 lakh crore, are considered A-category.