Former SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya is among the candidates who could succeed Vinod Rai as Banks Board Bureau chairman, the Economic Times today reported. The government has begun the process to select the next chairman for the board and the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet will soon take a call, the report said citing a source.
Interestingly, Bhattacharya was also among the four shortlisted contenders to succeed Raghuram Rajan as RBI governor. However, the former SBI chief lost the race to then RBI Deputy Governor Urjit Patel. Before that in 2015, Bhattacharya’s name had also cropped up for the top post at SEBI. Arundhati joined SBI in 1977 as a probationary officer and went on to become the first woman to head the bank as Chairman in 2013. Bhattacharya retired from the SBI last year in October.
The Banks Board Bureau or BBB was constituted in 2016 to improve the governance of Public Sector Banks. The BBB makes recommendations for selection of heads of public sector banks and financial institutions and help banks in developing strategies and capital raising plans. It has three ex-officio members and three expert members in addition to Chairman. All the members and chairman are part time.
Bhattacharya in her 40-year career held several positions at the SBI. She handled various departments such as foreign exchange, treasury, retail operations, human resources and investment banking. Bhattacharya was also the chief executive of SBI’s Capital Markets. She also served at SBI’s New York office in 1996.
