FinMin panel shortlists 21 bank GMs for ED selections

The ministry of finance has shortlisted around 21 bank general managers (GMs) to fill up vacancies for executive directors in six state-owned banks. Under the supervision of banking operations division a special panel interviewed around 35 such bankers on February 12 and 13. However, the final approval from the finance minister - P Chidambaram is still awaiting, sources told moneycontrol.com.

The shortlist of GMs include P S Bhatia and S K Srivastava from Allahabad Bank , R Athmaram Andhra Bank, P S Rawat and Gauri Shankar from Bank of India , Animesh Chauhan, Arun Shrivastava, R P Marathe and K N Manvi from Bank of Baroda , U Mohapatra and Atul Agarwal from Central Bank of India , T Sreekanthan Canara Bank , B K Diwakar and J K Garg from Corporation Bank , S K Sangar and T K Srivastava from Union Bank of India , V B Rao Vijaya Bank , Mahesh Kumar Jain Syndicate Bank , R K Gupta and M K Jain from Dena Bank as well as K K Sansi Oriental Bank of Commerce .

There will be around 18-20 vacant posts for EDs following retirements or promotion of senior officials in 2013-14. Those appointments will take place in some select public sector banks including Bank of India, Punjab and Sindh Bank , Indian Overseas Bank , Dena Bank, and UCO Bank . The mandate for third ED has actually added to higher requirement. Earlier, a state-owned bank used to have two EDs.

A general manager has to have a minimum of three years of service life left before stepping into an ED's shoes. It is the basic eligibility criterion.

"After FM approves this list, it will go to the Appointment Committee of Cabinet. Though, he may tweak some names but the list is likely to finalized with some minor changes," said an industry source with the direct knowledge of the development.

Also read: FinMin to appoint 9 new CMDs for PSU banks, 10 shortlisted

In the recent time, public sector banks are grappling with the staff shortage be it at the management level or at the branch level. According to media a report, PSU banks are planning to hire around 56,500 people in next six months across junior to middle management levels.

There was a six-member interview board, which took interviews. They were Rajiv Takru, secretary - department of financial services; Anand Sinha, deputy governor - RBI, Jagdish Capoor, former deputy governor - RBI (1997-2001) and a few other experts including two directors from Indian Institute of Management - Calcutta and IIM- Kozhikode.

saikat.das@network18online.com