The government on Monday dismissed Usha Ananthasubramanian, former managing director of fraud-struck Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Allahabad Bank, from service, according to an official notification. Usha Ananthasubramanian was to superannuate today but has been dismissed from the service. The development comes nearly three months after state-owned Allahabad Bank divested her of all powers after CBI named her involvement in the Rs 14,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. Usha Ananthasubramanian was divested of all the powers following the finance ministry directive.
Usha Ananthasubramanian was the head of PNB between August 2015 and May 2017. Thereafter, she shifted to Allahabad Bank. Usha Ananthasubramanian was executive director at PNB from July 2011 to November 2013.
She was also the head of Bharatiya Mahila Bank. The bank was merged with State Bank of India in April 2017. She became the first woman chairman in January this year of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).
She holds MA degree from University of Mumbai and also holds a Master’s Degree in Statistics from the University of Madras.
PNB fraud
A fraud to the tune of Rs 14,000 crore was detected at the bank’s Brady House branch in Mumbai earlier this year. It was detected that through an alleged connivance between a certain employees of the bank and gems and jewellery magnate Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi some fraud LoUs/FLCs were issued to various overseas branches of Indian banks by misusing the SWIFT messaging system.