Pitching for a transformation at public sector banks to evolve a 'sales and service culture', PNB's newly appointed chief Usha Ananthasubramanian has said time will tell whether the appointment of private sector executives as heads of state-run lenders is successful.

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She also said the newly announced seven-point plan 'Indradhanush' for the revival of PSU banks is the first major comprehensive announcement in this regard, as against the earlier practice of reforms in 'bits-and-pieces'.

"...I would say that first time there has been a comprehensive announcement that has been made which we need to appreciate because always it used to be in bits and pieces, maybe capital infusion announcement or something here and there," the new Managing Director & CEO of Punjab National Bank told a private business news channel.

"Any announcement or any reform measure is two sides of the same coin. You have the good and the bad but as a public sector banker, I would look at it as a beginning of the reform," she added.

On the government's decision to appoint two private sector executives as new heads of state-run Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank, Ananthasubramanian said, "It is an experiment. From a routine, there is a kind of a disturbance happening, but let us see if the disturbance is for good."

"Nobody has said it is successful or not successful. Time will tell, maybe it is kind of an experiment and we have to wait and see," she added.

Stating that public sector banks do not have a culture of sales and service, she said, "Every public sector bank has to transform itself. It's a transformation process where they need to change and become a sales and service organisation." On the issue of setting up of a Bank Board Bureau (BBB) by the government, the PNB CEO said, "We need to have professionals running the board and it will make a difference."