Rajnish Kumar on Wednesday appointed as the new Chairman of the State Bank of India for three years, ET Now reported. The current managing director with the bank Rajnish Kumar will take over Arundhati Bhattacharya whose term is ending this week.

Rajnish Kumar was reportedly a frontrunner in the race along with another managing director P K Gupta. In June, the Banks Board Bureau headed by former CAG Vinod Rai interviewed four candidates for the SBI chairman’s post.

SBI’s chairman post

The four SBI managing directors interviewed by three sub-committees under the BBB, PTI reported. The SBI’s chairman post now assumes more significance as the bank’s merger with six other entities has taken it into the league of top 50 banks globally in terms of assets.

Outgoing chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya appointed in 2013 as the bank’s first female chairperson. She got one-year extension in October 2016 as SBI was to merge its associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank with itself.

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