Can private bankers run PSBs?

Yes, they can. But to make the experiment successful, the government must have patience

- TAMAL BANDYOPADHYAY

Last week’s column on the government opening up some of the top slots at public-sector banks (PSBs) for professionals from the private sector has kicked off animated coffee-table discussions in the banking circles over the pros and cons of such a move.

Let me try to summarise their ideas and concerns, while throwing in a few of my own unsolicited suggestions on the way forward.

First, a quick recap. In the first week of October, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) revised the guidelines for the selection of wholetime directors at public-sector banks, superseding all earlier norms.

Under the new guidelines, private-sector candidates can apply for one of the four managing director (MD) positions at State Bank of India (SBI), MD and chief executive officer (CEO) posts at 11 nationalised banks, as well as at least one executive director (ED) position at four large nationalised banks with at least %10 trillion worth of business.

‘The selection process will involve “open” advertisement both from privateand public-sector candidates. All terms and conditions, including the “salary package” for such positions, will be decided by the central government from time to time.

Historically, the public-sector banking industry has been serving the role of a blood bank when it comes to saving troubled private banks or nurturing them. The current list of public-sector bankers heading private banks include Prashant Kumar (Yes Bank Ltd), Partha Pratim Sengupta (Bandhan Bank Ltd), R Subramaniakumar (RBL Bank Ltd), B Ramesh Babu (Karur Vysya Bank), Salee Sukumaran Nair (Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd), Amitava Chatterjee (Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd) and Sanjeev Nautiyal (Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ltd.)

Quite a few issues need to be sorted to make this experiment a success.