The top priority for Kumar will be to tackle bad loans of the bank, which is about Rs 1.88 lakh crore
Rajnish Kumar, the chairman-designate of State Bank of India (SBI), has already set himself a 30-day deadline to come up with a course correction plan to propel the bank to the next phase of growth.
During the first month, Kumar will come with short-term and long-term plans that will focus on digital transformation with the thrust on retail loans.
In his first media interaction after being elevated to the chairman of the bank, Rajnish Kumar said SBI is systems- and process-driven. "I will be reviewing (in the next 30 days) all the action plans (short-term and long-term) which are already happening in the bank – what is working, what is not – and what is the course correction that is required," he said.
"We will have manpower that will be deployed in the retail sector to drive up home, car and agriculture loans where there is a demand revival. Project loans are a source of concern but we will focus on that when the investments begin to come," he said.
Kumar as SBI's managing director heads the national banking group that looks at all retail agri loans and loans to small and medium enterprises.
The top priority for Kumar will be to tackle bad loans of the bank, which is about Rs 1.88 lakh crore.
"We are already in discussions on how we revive credit growth, how we resolve the (non-performing assets). That discussion, we will try to bring it to a conclusion very quickly. And you will see some changes," he said in a conference call with the media.
To meet the new challenges and brace up for competition, SBI, under Kumar, will also have a massive revamp of its human resource strategy with the bank focusing on attracting talent and retaining them. The existing workforce will be retrained and reskilled to meet the needs the bank. The performance improvement, and succession planning will also form an important part of the bank's strategy.
Kumar said post amalgamation of the five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank with SBI, the latter so far has merged a shade under 1,000 branches with nearby branches, and there may be 200-300 branches more to be merged. He emphasised that the bank does not discriminate between SBI employees and erstwhile associate bank employees. "Both are treated at par. We have gone out of our way to see that every employee is settled well in the merged entity," he said.
"I have visited many branches across the country and interacted with so many employees so that everyone in the merged entity is absorbed smoothly into the SBI family," Kumar said.
TOTAL OVERHAUL
- The top priority for Kumar will be to tackle bad loans of India’s largest lender
- Kumar will have a revamp of its HR strategy with focus on attracting talent
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