The government has opened leadership positions in public sector banks, including the managing director (MD) post at the State Bank of India (SBI), to private sector professionals.

The move is stated to aim at widening the talent pool and promoting merit-based competition, but is set to trigger protests from the bank unions.

As per the revised appointment guidelines, one MD position in SBI will now be open to the private sector. Marking a major shift, private sector candidates and persons working in public sector financial institutions can apply for this post. 

Until now, all the four MD and chairman positions in the country’s largest bank have been filled by internal candidates.

The new guidelines also allow private sector professionals to apply for the post of executive director (ED) in the public sector banks. Besides SBI, there are 11 public sector banks, including Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Union Bank of India and Bank of India. 

Incidentally, SBI has deputy MDs below the MDs who get elevated from their roles as chief general managers (CGM). There is no designated ED post as such.

As per the revised guidelines, one ED position in a public sector bank will be available to both private sector and internal candidates.

There are four EDs in large nationalised banks and two in the smaller ones.

According to revised guidelines issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, private sector candidates for the MD post must have at least 21 years of experience, including a minimum of 15 years in banking, and at least 2 years at the bank board level.

For ED roles, candidates must have at least 18 years of experience, with 12 years in banking including three years at the highest level below the board. 

The eligibility criteria for public sector candidates remains unchanged.

After the enforcement of these guidelines, the first vacancy of SBI’s MD will be treated as open to all eligible candidates, while subsequent vacancies will be filled by internal candidates.

Candidates holding the post of Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) are ineligible for these appointments. 

The designations in SBI in hierarchical order:

Junior Management Grade Scale-1 (Asst. Manager)

Middle Management Grade Scale-2 (Deputy Manager)

Middle Management Grade Scale-3 (Manager)

Senior Management Grade Scale-4 (Chief Manager)

Senior Management Grade Scale-5 (Asst. General Manager)

Top Executive Grade Scale-6 (Deputy General Manager)

Top Executive Grade Scale-7 (General Manager)

Top Executive Grade Special Scale-1 (Chief General Manager)

Top Executive Grade Special Scale-2 (Deputy Managing Director) (among the Board of Directors of the Bank)

Managing Director

Chairperson