Who is Ashwini Bhatia – frontrunner for State Bank of India’s next MD

Ashwini Bhatia has emerged as the frontrunner for the post of State Bank of India’s managing director. Bhatia name for next SBI MD was recommended by the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) on Saturday. The Banks Board Bureau was formed by Prime Minister Modi in 2016 and acts as a headhunter for state-owned banks and financial institutions.

Ashwini Bhatia has emerged as the frontrunner for the post of State Bank of India’s managing director. Bhatia name for next SBI MD was recommended by the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) on Saturday. The Banks Board Bureau was formed by Prime Minister Modi in 2016 and acts as a headhunter for state-owned banks and financial institutions. 

The Banks Board Bureau (BBB) on Saturday recommended names of:

• Ashwini Bhatia for MD, SBI
• M V Rao – for MD, Central Bank of India 
• P P Sengupta – for MD Indian Overseas Bank

Who is Ashwini Bhatia?

Ashwini Bhatia is currently serving as Deputy Managing Director (DMD) at Mutual Fund Business, State Bank of India Ltd. Before joining the SBI’s Mutual Fund Business, Bhatia was a whole-time director with SBI Capital Markets Limited. 

MV Rao, on the other hand, is an executive director with the Canara Bank.

The recommendations of Ashwini Bhatia, MV Rao and PP Sengupta was made by the bureau members who interacted with 20 candidates from nationalised banks on May 30. The Banks Board Bureau then recommended three names for the position of managing director in State Bank of India and the position of MD and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank and Central Bank of India. 

Bhatia will be appointed in place of PK Gupta who superannuated on March 31, while Rao will replace Central Bank of India MD Pallav Mohapatra who will retire in February next year. 

Sengupta, currently DMD SBI, will replace Indian Overseas Bank MD and CEO Karnam Sekar, who retires on June 30.

With this exercise, the government has completed the process of appointment of head of PSU banks for the current fiscal. The decision on the appointment will be taken by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. BBB, the headhunter for state-owned banks and financial institutions, is headed by former Department of Personnel and Training Secretary B P Sharma.

The Prime Minister, in 2016, approved the constitution of BBB as a body of eminent professionals and officials to make recommendations for appointment of whole-time directors as well as non-executive chairpersons of public sector banks (PSBs).

It was also entrusted with the task of engaging with the board of directors of all PSBs to formulate appropriate strategies for their growth and development.

Besides, it was asked to frame the strategy discussion on consolidation based on the requirement. The government wanted to encourage bank boards to restructure their business strategy and also suggest ways for their consolidation and merger with other banks.