Heavy Lifting
The past cannot be changed. The future is in your power. This was the message from Rajnish Kumar, Chairman of the State Bank of India (SBI), when he took over in October 2017. The 61 year old wants the country's largest bank to focus on being transformative.
Kumar has termed FY2018/19 as the 'Year of Hope' and 2019/20 as the 'Year of Happiness'. And he is determined to accomplish what many of his predecessors had done before steer the organisation ahead through thick and thin. Think of O.P. Bhatt and Arundhati Bhattacharya, who had successfully anticipated changing market dynamics. Bhatt was credited with making the elephant dance. He scaled up retail lending, which is now paying dividends. Bhattacharya, the first woman to helm the behemoth, had led the fight against non performing assets (NPAs) and made big strides into digital banking. Kumar pursues the course with the same zeal.
It is not always smooth sailing for a new boss,
