The Central government of India announced an overhaul of public sector banks.
As a part of this process, the government drafted executives from the private sector to run at least two state-run lenders, for the first time since nationalization.
The move is part of a strategy to professionalize bank boards and improve the performance of government-controlled banks that account for 70% of the deposits and loans extended by banks.
Of the five MDs – P S Jayakumar (Bank of Baroda) and Rakesh Sharma (Canara Bank) – are from the private sector, while the other three – Usha Ananthasubramanian (Punjab National Bank), M O Rego (Bank of India) and Kishore Kharat Piraji (IDBI Bank) – are with state-run entities.
Similarly, two of the chairmen – Ravi Venkatesan (independent director at Infosys) and T N Manoharan (director at Tech Mahindra and Public Health Foundation) – are also from the private sector.