Two of the finest commercial bankers are retiring tomorrow. They are KV Krishnamurthy, chairman and managing director (CMD) of Bank of India, and HN Sinor, joint managing director and head of domestic banking operations of ICICI Bank. Reserve Bank of India deputy governor GP Muniappan, known for his aversion to the limelight and ready wit, will also be hanging up his boots tomorrow.
The two commercial bankers are a study in contrast. While Krishnamurthy has remained a strong votary of public sector banking and proved that the turf is inconsequential for a dynamic banker, Sinor has possibly made the smoothest transition from the public sector to the private sector.
A probationary officer of the Central Bank of India (in 1971), Krishnamurthy became executive director of Bank of Baroda in 1992. His leadership quality came to the fore when he took over as Syndicate Bank CMD in 1997. In three years, he led the Manipal-based bank to a complete turn-around and entered the market with the first IPO of a public sector bank. No merchant banker was involved in the floatation of the par issue which was oversubscribed five times.
Krishnamurthy also found a novel way of cutting wage costs. Since he could not offer VRS at that time, he offered officers a sabbatical which enabled them to look for greener pastures. They had the choice to come back if they failed to get a job elsewhere.
As a CMD of Bank of India (BoI), in three years (between 2000 and 2003) Krishnamurthy raised the bank’s net profit five-fold (from Rs 160 crore to Rs 851 crore) and operating profit three and a half times (from Rs 600 crore to Rs 2030 crore). During this period, the share price of BoI went up from Rs 9 to Rs 57.
Sinor started his career in 1965 with Central Bank of India and joined Union Bank of India in 1969.
He moved again to Central Bank in 1996 as an executive director. Sinor joined ICICI Bank in July 1997 as an executive director and took over as managing director and CEO in June 1998. Post merger of ICICI with ICICI Bank in 2002, he was made the joint managing director.
He steered ICICI Bank’s ADS (American depository shares) issue, making it the first commercial bank from India and the second from Asia to get listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). He was also one of the architects of ICICI’s transition from a financial institution to a universal bank through the reverse merger route.
Post retirement, Sinor is joining the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) — the first banker from the private sector to don the mantle of the body’s CEO.
Post-nationalisation of banks in 1969, the IBA’s day-to-day functioning has always been headed by public sector bankers. This time round, however, the managing committee has decided to break from this norm.
In a way, this is a fitting finale to Sinor’s career. After seeing the world of private sector banks, he is going back to head a bankers’ association which predominantly represents the public sector banking industry.
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