After six months of dilly-dallying, the government has settled for the list of eight public sector bank chiefs which was originally proposed by the finance ministry.
With the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) approving the candidates, the government is expected to notify the appointments either tonight or later this week (see table).
Already, some banks such as Canara Bank, Corporation Bank, Uco Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank are functioning without full-time chiefs. Today, Andhra Bank Chairman and Managing Director RS Reddy also retired. The list approved by the PMO, however, does not include Punjab & Sind Bank chairman and managing director, who has been selected through a separate process as the candidate has to be a Sikh.
This is despite Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee asking officials to ensure that vacancies in state-owned banks and financial institutions be filled immediately after an incumbent moves to another assignment or retires.
The government has also finalised the appointment of a dozen executive directors, who are at present working as general managers in different public sector banks.
The finance ministry had finalised nine candidates for bank chiefs in February. This included RM Malla, who has since been appointed as IDBI Bank Chairman & Managing Director. But appointment of other bank chiefs was delayed as the finance ministry deviated from the earlier policy for appointment of bank chiefs. In at least one case, the new chairman will have a term of less than a year.
In another case, on promotion from executive director to CMD, the banker will be posted in a large bank, which is not usually the case. While the department of personnel and training expressed some concerns initially, the PMO also had a similar issue.
| WHO GETS WHAT | ||
| THE NEW BANK CHIEFS | ||
| Banker | Present | New job |
| Ramnath Pradeep | Central Bank of India | Corporation Bank |
| S Raman | Union Bank of India | Canara Bank |
| AS Bhattacharya | Indian Bank | Bank of Maharashtra |
| R Ramachandran | Syndicate Bank | Andhra Bank |
| Arun Kaul | Central Bank of India | UCO Bank |
| M Narendra | Bank of India | Indian Overseas Bank |
| Nagesh Pydah | Punjab National Bank | Oriental Bank of Commerce |
| HSU Kamath | Canara Bank | Vijaya Bank |
| Present refers to assignment as executive director, proposed refers to appointment as Chairman & Managing Director | ||
| THE NEW EDS | ||
| SS Mundra | Bank of Baroda | Union Bank of India |
| VR Iyer | Union Bank of India | Central Bank of India |
| Ravi Chatterjee | UCO Bank | Syndicate Bank |
| RK Dubey | Punjab National Bank | Central Bank of India |
| Rajiv Rishi | Oriental Bank of Commerce | Indian Bank |
| N Sheshadri | Canara Bank | Bank of India |
| V Kannan | Bank of Maharashtra | Oriental Bank of Commerce |
| Ashwani Kumar | Allahabad Bank | Corporation Bank |
| Rakesh Sethi | Andhra Bank | Punjab National Bank |
| Archana Bhargava | Punjab National Bank | Canara Bank |
| AK Bansal | Union Bank of India | Indian Overseas Bank |
| NR Badrinarayanan | Bank of Baroda | UCO Bank |
| Present refers to assignment as general manager, proposed refers to appointment as executive director | ||
This resulted in the file moving back and forth between the North Block, which houses the finance ministry and the department of personnel and training, and the South Block, where the PMO is located.
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Also read: Feb 24: Govt finalises nine bank chiefs