Captain Cool

Building on the legacy of some illustrious leaders, Dinesh Kumar Khara has taken State Bank of India, India’s biggest lender, to new heights

- Anand Adhikari

IN 2017, RAJNISH Kumar and Dinesh Kumar Khara, both MDs then, were in the running for the chairmanship of State Bank of India. While Kumar was picked as Chairman then since he had joined SBI as probationary officer four years before Khara and he was also a year older in the senior management team, it was a given that Khara would replace Kumar after his retirement. Even members of the Banks Board Bureau—set up by the government to recommend people to head public sector banks—who had interviewed him then, were impressed. “We found him intellectually very sharp, with a lot of innovative and practical ideas,” says a senior member, requesting anonymity. Finally, Khara was elevated to the corner office in October 2020, at a time when banks and the economy—both global and domestic—were facing challenges due to the pandemic.

Two and a half years into the top job and Khara, despite facing a number of challenges, is sitting on record profits. Not only that, SBI’s asset quality has improved, its costs are under control and the share of safe and secure retail assets have also increased. It comes as no surprise then that Khara has emerged as the winner in the BFSI category of the BT-PwC India’s Best CEOs ranking.