SBI appoints Rajnish Kumar as new chief; Arundhati Bhattacharya retires

The managing director of the State Bank of India (SBI), Rajnish Kumar was appointed as the new chairman of the largest public sector bank on Wednesday. He replaced Arundhati Bhattacharya, who completed her one-year extended term on Friday.

Kumar, 59, who joined the SBI board on May 26, 2015, will have to deal with a daunting task of addressing the issue of huge NPAs of the bank.

Kumar’s appointment was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. He has been appointed for a period of three years from the date of taking over the charge on or after October 7, as per the order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

Before giving him the supreme responsibility of the bank, he was appointed as the Managing Director - Compliance and Risk, and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of SBI Capital Markets Limited.

The new SBI chairman has also worked as Chief General Manager, Project Finance and Leasing Strategic Business Unit.

He has held several key assignments across various business verticals, including two overseas assignments in Canada and the UK.

ALSO READ: SBI Life Insurance shares make stellar market debut, lists at 5 per cent premium over IPO price

A large number of banks are facing the issue of the non-performing assets.

Bhattacharya became the first woman chairperson of SBI in 2013. She was given a year’s extension in October last year to ensure continuity as the SBI was then in the process of absorbing five associate banks.

State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Travancore and Bharatiya Mahila Bank merged with SBI on April 1, 2017.

Gross NPAs of the public sector banks rose to Rs 6.41 lakh crore at the end of March 2017 as against Rs 5.02 lakh crore a year ago, according to a Finance Ministry data.

SBI and its erstwhile associates alone wrote off Rs 27,574 crore NPAs in 2016-17, according to an RBI data.

(With PTI inputs)

ALSO READ: SBI asks customers to stop using cheque books of these 6 banks