Debadatta Chand to take charge of BoB, Rajneesh Karnatak appointed Bank of India MD & CEO

The central government has appointed Debadatta Chand as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Baroda for a period of three years, as per a Finance Ministry notification. Meanwhile, Rajneesh Karnatak will take the reins of the Bank of India.

Karnatak is currently Executive Director, at Union Bank of India. He will take over as MD & CEO of Bank of India for a period of three years from the date of assumption of office or until further orders, the notification said.

Chand was earlier serving as the Executive Director of the public sector banking unit. He has been promoted to the head post with effect from the date of assumption of office on or after July 1, 2023 for a period of three years.
Chand succeeds Sanjiv Chadha, whose tenure was extended till June 30, after his tenure originally ended on January 19, 2023, ending his over three-year stint. The FSIB in January had recommended elevating Chand to the executive director post in the same notification.

Public sector lender Bank of Baroda recorded healthy growth in advances for the March quarter, showing nearly 19% jump over the previous year period. The bank’s total deposits stood at Rs 12.04 lakh crore as of March 2023, compared with Rs 10.45 lakh crore as of March 2022.

Meanwhile, domestic deposits grew around 13% year-on-year to Rs 10.47 lakh crore during the same period, while domestic CASA deposits grew 7.9% to Rs 4.42 lakh crore.

Since last month, bank failures in the world’s largest economy and in Europe following the pandemic and war-induced tightening cycle posed a lot to brood over for policymakers on the vulnerability of financial systems. The concerns were particularly true for emerging market economies, who may have to struggle with fiscal packages to calm markets.However, India’s banking system has considerably less chances to face such incidents, the finance ministry recently said.