NHB chief given charge of United Bank of India

P K Gupta, chairman and managing director (CMD) of National Housing Bank (NHB), has been given the additional charge of CMD at United Bank of India (UBI) from May 1. Gupta was appointed although the tenure of the present CMD of UBI, Parkash Singh, was till February 2006.

According to a notification issued by the government, Gupta would hold the additional charge until a regular CMD was appointed at UBI.

Gupta would simultaneously be holding the post of CMD of NHB until further notification by the government. The reason behind Gupta's appointment was not clear.

Industry sources indicated Singh had been suffering from ill-health for several days and he could have tendered his resignation. Singh has been on leave for the last few weeks.

Singh, however, could not be conducted for comments. Others indicated the CMD quit because his house had been raided by Central Bureau of Investogation (CBI) some months ago and his continuation after the raid was by itself unusual.

UBI officials confirmed the change of CMD through the government notification today. Singh had taken over as the CMD of UBI on March 2004 and was scheduled to retire on February 28, 2006.

He came to UBI from Punjab & Sind Bank where he was the executive director. Gupta took over from V Sridhar some time back. Sridhar is now chairman of the Kolkata-based UCO Bank. Industry watchers said this was the first time that a chairman had been replaced by another before the end of tenure without specific reasons being cited.

In a parallel development, Sunanda Lahiri, general manager handling investment and international business at UCO Bank, is slated to take over as executive director (ED) of UBI replacing K N Prithwiraj, the present ED.

Prithwiraj would be taking over as chairman of Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) shortly. UBI recently appointed National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM) to work out an organisational restructuring strategy.

The report is expected to be submitted soon. The aim of the restructuring would be to upgrade its human resource policies on the basis of interaction with some bank customers and all other parties, including employee unions.