State Bank of India completes promotion exercise, elevates 14 to Dy MD

State Bank of India has completed the promotion exercise at the top and senior management levels, and elevated 14 chief managers as deputy managing directors (DMDs). The lender has also elevated 30 general managers as chief general managers.

Given the extended lockdown, the bank extensively used its digital platform, including video conferencing, to carry out the performance review and promotion exercise, said senior bank executives.

New faces at the DMD level include Arun Mehta, who is heading SBI Capital Markets; Vinay Tonse, Prabodh Parikh, Natrajan Sundar, A K Tiwari, S Salee, Rana Ashutosh Kumar Singh and Saloni Narayan. The process of their appointments is underway.

The number of people elevated to the DMD post was higher this year, as many bankers at this level moved to head other public sector banks. Some of them were Padmaja Chunduru, as managing director of Indian Bank, Mrutunjaya Mahapatra as head of Syndicate Bank (now merged with Canara Bank), and Pallab Mahapatra, as MD and CEO of Central Bank of India.

Prashant Kumar, chief financial officer, moved to YES Bank as MD and CEO as part of the plan to salvage the ailing private bank. Further, there are many retirements scheduled in the current financial year, bankers said.

At the level below the CGM’s post, the bank promoted over 60 to the post of general manager, and over 140 as deputy general managers.

Indian Bank sees new opportunities with larger footprint after merger

After the merger of Allahabad Bank with it, Indian Bank sees growth in lending and deposits and new opportunities emerging despite the lockdown, according to Padmaja Chunduru, Managing Director & CEO of Indian Bank. Both the banks have come together amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) lockdown and started working as a single bank with a larger footprint.
Even during the lockdown period, both lending and deposits are growing. "We must be careful in assessing and giving the loans. We have been one of the earliest banks to announce emergency loans across the table. I think this opens up new opportunities. First of all we have to assess the risks because there are so many more sectors now and the whole paradigm is shifting," Chunduru said.
The merger was a big task in front of the bank, but when confronted with the Covid-19 issue, the whole bank came together and the safety of the employees became paramount. Safety measures have been implemented across the bank. On April 24, it was Allahabad Bank's Foundation Day, but the amalgamated entity could not celebrate due to the lock-down.
The bank has also launched an online learning management solution for the staff. The best the welfare measures that were offered by the two banks have been made applicable to all the employees and all of them have been well received. In terms of alignment of products of both the banks, especially those related to housing loans, Indian Bank had certain products which were more attractive to the customers and they were launched across the country.

Allahabad Bank had one or two products for agriculture investments like tractors, which have been extended to Indian Bank customers.