Face of Indian banking set to change over next 2 years

By 2020, successors will step in, in five major institutions

An employee speaks on his mobile phone as he walks inside Axis Bank’s corporate headquarters in Mumbai.

In about two years from now, at least five private sectors banks will see new faces at the helm. The process for succession at Axis Bank, the third-largest private sector lender, has been finalised and is now awaiting regulatory approval. The process will start by April in HDFC Bank, the second-largest private sector bank. For ICICI Bank, a clear picture is expected by October.

Axis Bank awaits nod

Axis Bank will see a new chief executive from January 1, 2019 as its board has shortlisted three candidates and sent them to the Reserve Bank of India for approval. The lender’s present MD and CEO Shikha Sharma has decided to step down on December 31, 2018. The future of ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar is unclear. Following allegations of impropriety and conflict of interest, the board of ICICI Bank has ordered a probe, with Ms. Kochhar deciding to go on leave till the probe is over.

 

This prompted the bank to create the post of chief operating officer and appoint Sandeep Bakhshi, who is now running the show. It remains to be seen if Ms. Kochhar, whose present term ends in March 2019, will seek reappointment.

The current term of Romesh Sobti, who has changed the face of IndusInd Bank over the last 10 years, ends in March 2020 when he turns 70 — the regulator-mandated retirement age of private sector bank chief executives. The lender will also have a new face, and will most probably elevate one of its current top management team.

HDFC Bank MD Aditya Puri, the longest-serving head of any Indian bank, will hang up his boots in October 2020. The lender will start the search process for a successor in April 2019 and there could be a 12-month overlap period in which the successor will work with Mr. Puri.

Also, the latest private sector universal bank, IDFC Bank, will also see a change of guard once it gets all the clearances for its proposed merger with Capital First. According to the deal, V. Vaidyanathan, the executive chairman of Capital First, will replace Rajiv Lall as the MD and CEO of the bank.