The Indian Ministry of Finance has acknowledged the existence of vacancies in the boards of public sector banks (PSBs) and is taking steps to fill them. According to Pankaj Chaudhary, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, filling director positions is a regular process. He assured that the government is taking necessary action to fill vacancies as soon as possible.
The ministry provided an update on the number of directors and vacancies on the boards of all PSBs. The details include: Bank of Baroda (16 directors, 6 vacancies), Bank of India (16 directors, 5 vacancies), Bank of Maharashtra (14 directors, 8 vacancies), and so on. It is clear that several public sector banks have vacancies on their boards, including Bank of Maharashtra, where the position of Chairman and all Managing Directors/Chief Executive Officers are currently filled.
The Ministry’s statement comes in response to a query by Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) MP N K Premachandran, who had raised concerns about the vacancies in public sector banks. In his queries, Premachandran asked if the government proposed to fill the vacancies, what action it had taken in this regard, and whether it was aware that the Director vacancies in Maharashtra State Bank/Bank of Maharashtra had not been filled.
Premachandran also asked if the government proposed to amalgamate other public sector banks with State Bank of India (SBI). The Ministry clarified that there is no proposal under consideration to amalgamate other public sector banks with SBI. Overall, the Ministry of Finance has assured that it is working to fill the vacancies on the boards of public sector banks and is committed to ensuring the effective governance of these institutions.