Mumbai-based Union Bank of India will have a woman boss for the first time. A Manimekhalai, executive director at Canara Bank, has been appointed as the managing director and chief executive officer of Union Bank of India for a period of three years.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on 2 June gave its approval to the proposal of the Union Finance Ministry to Manimekhalai’s new appointment. She replaces Rajkiran Rai G, who held the CEO position of Union Bank since 2017 and spearheaded the amalgamation task of Corporation Bank and Andhra Bank with Union Bank.

The government also named the new heads of Indian Overseas Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank, as recommended by the ACC. Punjab National Bank (PNB) executive director Swarup Kumar Saha succeeds S Krishnan as MD & CEO of Punjab & Sind Bank for a term of three years.

Ajay Kumar Srivastava has been elevated from his position as executive director to the role of MD and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank for three years. He replaces Partha Pratim Sengupta who took charge as Indian Overseas Bank chief on 24 July 2020.

As per the government notification, Manimekhalai would be available for extension of term by two years or until her retirement date (March 2026). She joined Vijaya Bank as an officer in 1988 and has three decades of banking experience. An MBA from Bangalore University, she became ED of Canara Bank in February 2019 and is a director of the General Insurance Corporation and three group companies of Canara Bank. 

Saha took charge as ED of PNB on 10 March 2021, after being the bank’s Lucknow zonal manager. He started his banking career with Oriental Bank of Commerce in 1990 as a probationary officer.

Srivastava was made ED of Indian Overseas Bank on 9 October 2017. He led the bank’s agriculture & rural initiatives, retail banking, credit support services, credit monitoring and treasury. He was also allotted the Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad zones for monitoring their growth, control and overall management.