Govt appoints heads of 7 PSU banks, shifts MDs of PNB and BoI

The government, which on Friday vested more powers with the Reserve Bank of India to deal with public sector banks' ballooning bad assets, also announced a major restructuring of the PSU bank boards with the appointment of new heads of seven PSU banks and a reshuffle of the management of Punjab National Bank and Bank of India.

The government on Friday appointed R Subramania Kumar as the MD and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank (IOB). Subramania Kumar is at present the executive director of IOB.

Rajkiran Rai G will be the new MD and CEO of the Union Bank of India. He is at present working as the executive director of the Oriental Bank of Commerce. His appointment is for an initial period of three years, the order said.

PNB managing director Usha Ananthasubramanian has been shifted to relatively small Kolkata-based Allahabad Bank while head of Bank of India (BoI) Melwyn Rego will move to Syndicate Bank with immediate effect, according to an official statement.

Sunil Mehta, executive director of Corporation Bank, will be the new MD and CEO of Punjab National Bank.

The move follows a similar rejig at IDBI Bank because of their failure to tackle non-performing assets (NPAs). Last month, NPA-laden public sector lender IDBI Bank head Kishor P Kharat was shifted to Indian Bank. Mahesh Kumar Jain of Indian Bank was shifted to IDBI Bank.

A senior finance ministry official said the changes have been made because the Department of Financial Services wanted to give longer tenure to heads of these two large banks.

Executive director of Canara Bank Dinabandhu Mohapatra will be the new MD and CEO of the Bank of India in place of M O Rego who has been moved to the Syndicate Bank in the same capacity.

Mohapatra is currently the executive director in the Canara Bank. R A Sankara Narayanan, the ED in Bank of India, will be the MD and CEO of Vijaya Bank.

Besides, R Subramaniakumar, currently executive director of Indian Overseas Bank, has been elevated to MD and CEO.

Sunil Mehta, currently executive director in Corporation Bank, will head the country's second largest public sector bank PNB in place of Ananthasubramanian who has been shifted.

ACC also appointed R A Sankara Narayanan, executive director of BoI as MD and CEO of Vijaya Bank.

The appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved these appointments, according to a PTI report.