With more than half a dozen posts of chief executives of public sector banks getting vacant next financial year ending March 2018, a selection panel has shortlisted 14 candidates who will be appear for an interview slated during the last week of March.
Top posts in lenders such as the Union Bank of India, Syndicate Bank, Allahabad Bank, will fall vacant in 2017-18. “Fourteen bankers from various public sector banks have been shortlisted for the selection,” said a top banker.
Sources said the selection committee will identify candidates for four banks in this round for vacancies that are arising until December.
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Candidates who have served as an executive director in public sector banks for one year and have two years of service remaining will be eligible for selection.
A selection panel comprising of members of Bank Board Bureau (BBB) and government officials will conduct the interviews, bankers familiar with the matter said.
In addition, bankers will have to take psychometric tests – a first for government banks – before the interviews. The psychometric tests are to be followed by a group discussion. A global talent hunt firm has assisted in conducting the psychometric tests, bankers said.
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Unlike previous occasions, officials from public sector banks are eligible for the interview.
Earlier, top posts in government banks were open to private sector candidates but the response was not encouraging.
After BJP-led government assumed power in May 2014, chairman and managing director posts in public sector banks have been separated. Now, instead of CMD, a chief executive officer and managing director is appointed and also a non-executive chairman.
Following the recommendation of the P.J. Nayak Committee, the selection process of was also overhauled with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) distancing itself from the selection process to avoid conflict of interest.
The BBB, which is headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Vinod Rai, is the body which has been given the responsibility of selecting CEOs, EDs, as well as board members. The appointments, however, are continued to made by the government.
The top post in State Bank of India (SBI) will fall vacant during the next financial year. There is a separate interview process for that and only SBI officials are selected. SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya has been given a one-year extension in 2016, which will expire in October.