Taking charge at a time when State Bank of India has touched peak profits, the new chairman C S Setty has said that he will strive to make the country’s largest lender the most valued financial institution and adopt a bottom-up approach to management to achieve the goals.

Ready to build on the foundation laid by his predecessors, Setty has promised to lift the profit of the bank to “new milestones”, reinforce its image as the “banker to every Indian”, “touch lives all-around”, “achieve “service excellence", "strategic leadership" and be "an employer of choice”.

Dinesh Khara, his immediate predecessor, has set the profit target of Rs 1 lakh crore for the current financial year, implying that this milestone goal will have to be achieved by Setty. This seems to be an ambitious target, considering that SBI’s net profit in the first quarter of this fiscal stood marginally up at Rs 17,035 crore from Rs 16,884 crore in the same quarter the previous year.

The bank achieved a record net profit of Rs 61,077 crore in FY24, 22% higher than the year-ago figure of Rs 50,232 crore. SBI, in fact, accounted for 40% of the total profit of Rs 1,41,203 crore of 12 public sector banks in FY24.

Setty is committed to rise up to the occasion as he expresses gratitude to be chosen to lead “such a dynamic and resilient organisation”. In his message to the employees, he says, "I am committed to navigating our path forward with the same care and consideration as those of my early steps. Together, we will continue to evolve, innovate, and achieve new heights."

Soon after taking charge as SBI chairman, Setty assured employees that all efforts would be made to grow SBI into the 'Best Bank' in the country. 

SBI proudly serves over 50 crore customers as of today, with market leadership positions across products and has achieved 1% return on assets (ROA) on arguably the country's largest balance sheet, he states in his message to the employees.

"Since the start of this decade, our global rank among banks has moved up 35 positions from 52 to 17 in terms of market capitalisation," he says. "It is now our turn to build on this foundation, to grow SBI into the 'Best Bank' in the country.”

"We are fortunate to be living at a time when our motherland is evolving from being a 'developing' to a fully developed country - with deep structural changes in the nature of our economy, financial markets maturing fast and resultantly, India achieving a pole position in the comity of nations. This is India's decade and I want it to be SBI's decade too," he adds.

In his new mission, Setty has sought support of all employees. In his message to them, he has said that he and the rest of the upper management in the company will meet employees across their network and discuss goal setting—both on a personal level as well as on the company level. "It will be my endeavour to meet you personally, understand your ambitions and career aspirations and discuss how we can jointly achieve the vision we have laid down for SBI," he said.

Recalling how as a child he was taught to navigate damp rice fields after a downpour by balancing both feet on the slippery bunds bordering the muddy fields without skidding or losing balance, he said lessons are to be learnt from such experiences.

"This early, rustic lesson has stayed with me till now, much like the foundational experiences I have had at SBI. Just as those first steps on the bunds were essential practice for navigating the path ahead, the initial stages of our career shape us and provide us the grounding to build our own future," Setty said.