Government appoints Arundhati Bhattacharya as SBI managing director

Arundhati Bhattacharya

The Centre has appointed Arundhati Bhattacharya as a Managing Director of State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest commercial bank. She is the first woman Managing Director of SBI and is also tipped to be the Chairperson of the bank when incumbent Chairman, Pratip Chaudhuri, retires in end-September. Prior to this appointment, Bhattacharya was Managing Director and Chief Executive of SBI Capital Markets, the merchant banking arm of SBI.

Currently, SBI has four Managing Directors. Bhattacharya has replaced Diwakar Gupta, who was Chief Financial Officer and Managing Director of the bank and retired in end-July.

A search and selection panel comprising Rajiv Takru, Financial Services Secretary, Anand Sinha, Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India, and a professor from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, among others, had in June interviewed candidates for the SBI Managing Director post.

The search panel had recommended Bhattacharya’s name, which was approved by the Finance Minister.