The government would soon restructure the Banks Board Bureau (BBB), which was set up to recommend names of top executives of state-run banks and financial institutions, as the extended term of its members ended on April 10, a source said.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) would take a final call on whether to retain the board members or bring in new ones. Also, the government will soon decide on whether to expand the BBB’s scope or not.
In April 2020, the ACC had approved the extension of the term of the BBB’s part-time chairman BP Sharma (former secretary of the department of personal and training) and other members for a period of two years. Other part-time members are Vedika Bhandarkar, former managing director (MD) of Credit Suisse; Panja Pradeep Kumar, former MD of SBI; and Pradip
P Shah, founder MD of rating agency CRISIL.
Sharma had been heading the BBB since 2018 after the tenure of its first chairman and former controller and auditor general of India Vinod Rai got over. The government set up the BBB in 2016 with an aim to “search and select apposite personages” for the boards of public-sector banks, financial institutions and insurance companies and “recommend measures to improve corporate governance in these institutions.
It was also tasked with engaging with the directors of PSBs to prepare strategies for their growth and development. The board was also consulted on the move to merge ten PSBs to create four larger entities.
In the second half of FY22, the BBB met on four occasions and conducted online interactions with 29 candidates for various vacancies. It recommended candidates for the positions of managing directors (MDs) of State Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank and Union Bank of India, apart from the deputy MD of EXIM Bank.
