Rajnish Kumar, the new chairman of the State Bank of India (SBI), has kicked off his first day in office by reorganising the top deck of the bank.
For the first time, the bank has set up a post of managing director for HANDLING stressed assets, according to a senior SBI official. Resolution of the stressed assets will be a major challenge for Kumar. At the end of the first quarter for which the bank announced the merged entity’s results the gross non-performing assets were at Rs 1.88 lakh crore.
B Sriram, managing director in charge of corporate and international banking, will have this as an additional portfolio until one of the deputy managing directors is promoted to the managing director’s post.
A day before he took over reins of the bank, Kumar had said he would come with a course correction plan in 30 days, and that NPA resolutions, credit growth and optimal utilisation of the human resources of the bank would be his top priorities. Many in the bank say Rajnish Kumar, who knows the bank inside-out having worked in London, Canada and Northeast, would find ways for the course correction much faster.
Praveen Kumar Gupta will be the new managing director in charge of retail liabilities and digital banking, a new classification for the vertical which was earlier called National Banking Group (NBG), a big growth area for the bank.
Dinesh Khara will continue to be in charge of subsidiaries and additionally take over the management of risk and compliance, which was earlier handled by Gupta.
The bank will have two additional managing directors after it completes the merger process.
“Known to be a quick decision maker, it is no surprise that on a Saturday, his first day in office as chairman began with changes. That is the speed with which he works. He is the kind of person who does not wait to put his best put forward, rather he would prefer to put a foot forward first and fine-tune the initiatives as it goes along,” said the senior officer quoted above, who works with Kumar closely.
SBI has a 12-member Board with the chairman and the four managing directors as members. Nominees from the government and RBI are also part of the bank’s Board. Kumar, who had joined the SBI Board on May 26, 2015, has looked after a vast portfolio in the bank ranging from retail banking, small and medium enterprises to agri loans and latest initiatives in payments and digital banking. Prior to that, he headed SBI Capital Markets — the merchant banking arm of SBI — as MD & CEO. Having joined the bank as a probationary officer in 1980, Kumar has spent close to four decades at SBI. He will be at the helm of the bank for the period of three years.
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A day before he took over reins of the bank, Kumar had said he would come with a course correction plan in 30 days, and that NPA resolutions, credit growth and optimal utilisation of the human resources of the bank would be his top priorities. Many in the bank say Rajnish Kumar, who knows the bank inside-out having worked in London, Canada and Northeast, would find ways for the course correction much faster.
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