In a rare move, 14 public sector bank officers were elevated to EDs at the same time. Indianbankingnews.com takes a brief look at their backgrounds.

Kollegal Raghvendra, ED of Punjab & Sind Bank

A man with an eye for detail, Kollegal V Raghvendra served as the chief financial officer (CFO) of Bank of India before being elevated to the position of executive director at Punjab & Sind Bank.

Raghvendra, popularly known as Raghu among his friends and colleagues, is an affable and approachable banker who can find solutions as quickly as possible.

Being with Bank of India for nearly 38 years, Raghvendra has experience in all formats of banking such as branch operations, corporate and subsidiary management. He also served as the chairman of Narmada Jhabua Gramin Bank, a leading regional rural bank (RRB) sponsored by Bank of India.

Having worked in Bank of India’s Hong Kong branch, Raghvendra has experience in international banking.

An avid reader, Raghvendra is deeply interested in philosophy and history.

Rajeev Puri, ED of Central Bank of India

Former chief general manager (CGM) of Punjab National Bank (PNB), Rajeev Puri has taken over as executive director (ED) of Central Bank of India.

Just after the Nirav Modi scam broke out, Puri became PNB zonal manager posted at Mumbai, with the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa under him. In the scam-hit bank, he recovered Rs 8,125 crore.

Prior to that, Puri was the circle head in the newly formed state of Telangana. Facing several challenges, he was responsible for elevating the circle’s status to the top, from its earlier 48th position. Total business in the Telangana circle zoomed to Rs 16,975 crore, from Rs 5,150 crore.

Puri has snapped up 55 awards, achieving various targets in agri banking, retail banking and business performance.

“I like to take up challenges. The new assignment is yet another challenge,” Puri told Indianbankingnews.com, referring to the fact that Central Bank of India is still under the Reserve Bank of India’s prompt corrective action (PCA) list and has high non-performing assets (NPAs).

Outside banking, Puri is keen on social service.

Nitesh Ranjan, ED of Union Bank of India

At 44 years, Nitesh Ranjan is the youngest of the 14 new appointees to take charge as ED of Union Bank of India.

Beginning his career at Food Corporation of India, Ranjan joined Union Bank of India in 2008. He has handled various portfolios like treasury, chief investor relations officer, head of balance-sheet management group, chief economist and regional head. He was responsible for steering the bank’s vision and goals, including its strategic agenda of end-to-end digitisation.

Ranjan dedicated 100 days to imparting spoken English skills to underprivileged youth, under the TeachIndia initiative.

Monika Kalia, ED of Bank of India

A charismatic orator, Monika Kalia has been elevated to ED of Bank of India at the age of 48. Prior to this, she was the CGM of Union Bank of India.

Kalia has held responsibilities in the bank’s financial planning, investor relations, personal banking and operations at crucial times, including demonetisation and amalgamation, when she carried out due diligence and decided the share swap ratio.

Kalia has headed retail lending, marketing and third-party product distribution, corporate communications, compliance and board secretariat. She was also director on the board of two joint ventures of the bank—Star Union Dai ichi Life Insurance and Union Asset Management Trustee company.

An avid reader, she is also a music aficionado and loves gardening.

Imran Amin Siddiqui, ED of Indian Bank

A chess champion, Imran Amin Siddiqui started his banking career as PO of Allahabad Bank, where he joined as field officer in 1997. He was GM before he assumed the new role of ED at Indian Bank.

As ED of Indian Bank, he will oversee the bank’s credit monitoring, risk, compliance, resources and retail. He will also have five field general managers—Bengaluru, Kolkata, Meerut, Lucknow and Patna—report to him.

An engineering graduate from Kanpur, Siddiqui has worked in the bank’s rural, semi-urban and metro centre branches, as well as administrative offices. His strength lies in his administrative abilities, which helped him take the Kolkata zone of Allahabad Bank to the premier position.

Speaking to Indianbankingnews.com, Siddiqui said he persuaded everyone to work together as a team, as if they were playing cricket for the bank. He motivated some of the staff while acting tough with some others.

A fitness freak, Siddiqui walks every day to keep fit.

Debadatta Chand, ED of Bank of Baroda

Debadatta Chand, aged 50, has assumed charge as ED of Bank of Baroda. He was the CGM of PNB, heading the Mumbai zone, the bank’s largest zone.

Chand has successfully handled the responsibilities as head of PNB’s zonal audit office at Patna, circle head at Bareilly, and head of integrated treasury operations. He was also on the board of PNB Principal Mutual Fund and Swift India Pvt. Ltd. He was an ex-officio in many of the private equity funds in India. He also headed one of the subsidiaries of PNB.

Chand started his career at Allahabad Bank as a probationary officer (PO) in 1994. He subsequently worked as a manager in Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) from 1998 to 2005. He joined PNB in 2005 as chief manager and rose to the post of CGM with sheer hard work and attention to details.

Swarup Kumar Saha, ED of PNB

Swarup Kumar Saha started his career in banking in erstwhile Oriental Bank of Commerce in 1990 as PO. He is a certified associate member of Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB). He also holds a diploma in Treasury, Investment and Risk Management (DTIRM) from the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (IIBF) and holds a certificate in Risk in Financial Services from IIBF in collaboration with CISI, London, along with various certifications related to IT security, cybercrimes and fraud management.

In a career spanning more than 30 years, he has worked in different capacities across the country. He has wide exposure to human resource development (HRD), treasury, international banking, credit, risk management, organisational restructuring and board matters.

During his tenure at the head office of the erstwhile Oriental Bank of Commerce, he headed treasury and international banking and HRD divisions. Prior to this, Saha was CGM at the Lucknow zone, a responsibility he had been holding since April 2020.

M Karthikeyan, ED of Bank of India

During his professional journey of over 32 years, M Karthikeyan has gained extensive experience at Indian Bank’s corporate office and in field banking. He was zonal manager of Dharmapuri, Pune and Chennai North Zone. He was field general manager for Delhi, controlling eight zones.

Aged 56, Karthikeyan has headed the bank’s recovery and legal department in the head office. He has also been on the board of Tamil Nadu Grama Bank, which was formed as a merged entity of two regional rural banks—Pandian Grama Bank (a subsidiary of Indian Overseas Bank) and Pallavan Grama Bank (a subsidiary of Indian Bank).

Prior to his post as ED of Bank of India, Karthikeyan was with Indian Bank as general manager.

Swarup Dasgupta, ED of Bank of India

Prior to becoming ED of Bank of India, Swarup Dasgupta was general manager at Bank of India where he handled recovery.

During his professional journey of over 23 years, Dasgupta has extensive exposure of corporate and field banking operations. He has worked in the corporate credit department at the head office. He has headed the mid and large corporate branches at Hyderabad, Chennai and Andheri. He has also worked in the bank's foreign centre in London.

Dasgupta has headed critical departments of vigilance, board secretariat, SME (small and medium enterprise) and recovery at the bank’s head office.

Vivek Wahi, ED of Central Bank of India

Vivek Wahi, aged 55, was general manager at Bank of India before being made ED of Central Bank of India.

Joining Bank of India as probationary officer in 1990, Wahi has worked in the important verticals like branch banking, overseas dealing room and large corporate credit branches, and more. He has also worked in various capacities as zonal manager, treasury head and field general manager.

Wahi was posted as zonal manager of Bank of India's Mumbai South Zone, the largest zone with business mix parameters. He has also headed the bank’s treasury operations at Mumbai for more than two years. He has worked as field general manager of northern territory of Bank of India, comprising six states and headquartered in New Delhi.

AB Vijayakumar, ED of Bank of Maharashtra

Prior to assuming the new role as ED, AB Vijayakumar was the vigilance officer of Indian Overseas Bank. He took up this responsibility in April 2020.

Vijayakumar was also the chief vigilance officer for the erstwhile Corporation Bank, which later got merged with the Union Bank of India. For some time, he was chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Gramin Bank.

Vijayakumar started as a PO of Bank of India in 1984. He has about 34 years of multifarious experience in the field and at the corporate office. He was also the bank’s vigilance officer for its Hong Kong operations. Additionally, he has handled the bank’s large corporate finance, retail lending and forex operations.

S Srimathy, ED of Indian Overseas Bank

Before landing her present post as ED of Indian Overseas Bank, S Srimathy was CGM at Canara Bank and was also deputed to NABARD as chief vigilance officer (CVO).

Srimathy has also held additional charge as CVO of New India Assurance Company, State Bank of India, and Bank of Baroda for varying periods.

Joining Canara Bank as PO in November 1986, Srimathy has over 34 years of banking experience and is well exposed to various verticals like branch operations, mid and large credits, HRD and risk management. She has worked across the country and headed the bank’s prime corporate branch at Cuffe Parade, Mumbai, for over three years. She headed the corporate credit wing and international operations at the bank’s head office. She was then made head of Canara Bank’s Chennai circle.

Israq Ali Khan, ED of UCO Bank

A great team person and a consensus builder, Israq Ali Khan was CGM and chief technology officer (CTO) at the Union Bank of India. He was also the first chief information security officer (CISO) of the bank.

Khan handled the bank’s IT integration project and was instrumental in bringing new technologies and establishing its green datacentre.

During his 33 years of service at Union Bank of India, he held various positions in the regional office, zonal offices and FGM offices as field general manager.

During his banking career, Khan has mentored many young staff members of the bank.

K Satyanarayan Raju, ED of Canara Bank

Prior to becoming ED of Canara Bank, K Satyanarayana Raju was CGM of Bank of Baroda.

During his 33 years of banking career, Raju has headed various branches for 12 years, including the specialised corporate banking branch. He was regional head of Shimoga, Vijayawada, Hyderabad and Mumbai. He was zonal head of Mumbai zone, which is the biggest zone of the bank. He also headed the operations and services department at the head office.

Raju has rich experience in all segments of banking, including branch banking, corporate credit, retail credit, agri financing, credit monitoring, credit recovery and compliance.

Raju was a director in BoB Financial Solutions Ltd, a subsidiary of Bank of Baroda. He also became a member of the steering committee of BoB-IIT Bombay Innovation Centre.