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Janki Ballabh to head SBI

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, Oct. 27

MR Janki Ballabh, Deputy Managing Director (DMD) and Group Executive (International Banking) will be the next Chairman of State Bank of India (SBI). He would take over charge from the present Chairman, Mr G.G. Vaidya, on November 1.

Confirming that the appointment had got the final approval of the Government, Mr Devi Dayal, Special Secretary (Banking), Ministry of Finance, said that Mr Ballabh would hold office for a period of two years till his superannuation on October 31, 2002.

Mr Ballabh's appointment may cause heartburn among the top echelons of the SBI since he would be superseding nearly half a dozen officers, including two of the present Managing Directors, Mr Vepa Kamesam and Mr S K Mukherjee.

Sources said the criterion, which saw Mr Ballabh pull ahead, was that he was the only contender with a residual service of two years, which the Government appears to have set as a benchmark.

In fact, both the present Managing Directors of the bank have less than a year left for superannuation, while a couple of other DMDs also have less than two years tenure left.

Through the appointment, the Government has also tried to send the signal that it would like the Chief Executives of banking institutions to have a decent stint at the helm to ensure that their vision is reflected in the long-term performance in the bank .

Mr Ballabh's appointment, however, would also be setting a precedent for SBI, where the trend has been of the senior-most executive taking over the Chairman's seat.

In fact, in keeping with the trend, the last time that the Government announced the appointment of the head of the bank, it had cleared three names at one go with the first two appointees holding office for a brief period of a few months before Mr Vaidya took over.