Mallikarjuna Rao is new Punjab National Bank chief

NEW DELHI: In a last-minute move, the government on Tuesday appointed

S S Mallikarjuna Rao

as the new managing director and CEO of Punjab National Bank (PNB).


Rao, who was heading Allahabad Bank, joins a list of senior executives with a link to the Kolkata-based lender to move to PNB. His predecessor

Sunil Mehta

had worked at

Allahabad Bank

as was the case with

Usha Ananthasubramanian

and

K R Kamath

, who served as PNB chiefs. In fact, Ananthasubramanian was subsequently sent back to head Allahabad Bank before being dismissed.

The 57-year-old banker has been given a two-year term and will oversee the merger of Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and United Bank of India with PNB, to create the second largest lender in the country. Rao is familiar with OBC, having worked there as general manager & CFO. Having started as a probationary officer at Bank of Maharashtra in 1985, he also worked as assistant vice-president in the erstwhile Global Trust Bank (GTB) before joining OBC.

Although the government had announced a hunt for a new PNB MD and opened it for participation from the private sector, it opted to appoint a new head on the day Mehta was superannuating to ensure a smooth merger. It was earlier toying with the idea of handing charge to the three executive directors.


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