The government is yet to finalise a successor to State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman O P Bhatt, who retired on March 31 and fill up other senior-level management vacancies.
Pending appointment of new chief of the SBI, the government has given additional charge of Chairman to R Sridharan, who is currently the Managing Director of the bank until further orders.
Besides, vacancy of Chairman, three positions of the Managing Directors are to be filled in the bank which alone commands about 25% market share.
The government has also not found replacement for S K Bhattacharya, who retired as Managing Director last year.
Although the process for appointment of successor of Bhatt and other top executive began in December last year, no formal announcement has been made for filling up vacancy arising out of superannuation or otherwise.
The SBI board comprises of an executive chairman and two managing directors. With amendments in the SBI Act, it made provision to appoint two more managing director by the Government of India, which holds about 59 per cent stake in the bank.
Currently, country's largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation has three managing director besides the executive Chairman.
Sridharan, the senior most executive of the bank, would manage the affairs of the bank. His term is coming to an end in June this year.
Pratip Chaudhuri, currently the Deputy Managing Director and Group Executive international banking of State Bank of India, is understood to be leading the race for the chief of SBI.
Besides, Hemant G Contractor, Chief Finance Officer and Diwakar Gupta Deputy Managing Director and Group Executive (rural business and national banking) is also believed to be in the reckoning for the job.
The name would be finally cleared by Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The other members include Home Minister P Chidambaram and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Chaudhuri joined SBI as Probationary Officer in 1974. He took over charge as DMD (international banking) in April, 2009.
The search panel to appoint the next SBI chairman, headed by Reserve Bank of India governor D Subbarao, had interviewed 4-5 candidates in December, 2010.
