BIG AND NIMBLE

The country's largest bank has come out stronger with every crisis that the banking industry has faced in the past few decades. Now it is agile, too, having taken to digital transformation

- ANAND ADHIKARI

STATE BANK OF INDIA (SBI), the country's largest lender, has survived and thrived through many an upheaval in its 217-year history. What stands out is the contribution of its leaders, especially after the nationalisation of banks. Take, for instance, D.N. Ghosh in the mid-1980s, who incubated SBI Asset Management Company; it is now the third-largest mutual fund house in terms of assets under management.

Janki Ballabh, who helmed SBI at the turn of the century, laid the foundations of SBI Life Insurance that is today the largest private sector life insurer in India. Then came A.K. Purwar and O.P. Bhatt, who laid the foundations of consumer banking, which has now grown to account for over 40 per cent of SBI's total loan mix.

By the time Arundhati Bhattacharya reached the corner room, competition from private sector banks had increased manifold. Under her leadership, SBI transformed into a customer-centric and tech-savvy bank to protect its market share. Her successor, Rajnish Kumar took her work forward by developing the bank's superapp YONO. Current Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara is consolidating the digital gains made by his predecessors, and also setting up the foundations for green finance.