This PSU banker is being considered for Axis top job

P S Jayakumar, chief executive of Bank of Baroda (BoB), could become the successor of Axis Bank CEO Shikha Sharma. Earlier this year, the appointments committee of the bank had hired Egon Zhender to identify a new CEO after Sharma said she would not step down prematurely on December 2018 after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised questions over her three-year term.According to a TOI report, the Zhender-led search panel is understood to be considering Jayakumar, a former Citibanker and the first lateral recruit into the top position at a public-sector bank and whose term comes to an end this year.Jayakumar, 56, joined BoB on October 2015 and was heading VBHC Value Homes prior to taking charge of the lender. Those close to him said that he had taken permission from private equity investors in the earlier firm to take public office and was not keen on the private sector. However, uncertainty over what the government wants to do with PSBs might alter his plans.Jayakumar is one of the only two bankers selected by the government to head a PSB. The other being Rakesh Sharma, former CEO of private lender Lakshmi Vilas Bank, was appointed to head Bengaluru-based Canara Bank.In his three-year tenure, Jayakumar has been on the forefront at cleaning up the bank’s balance sheet and drawing up a road map for growing the retail business and investing in technology.The board’s appointment committee would have to come up with a shortlist soon considering that a candidate would need to be finalised by September 2018. Within the bank, deputy MD V Srinivasan and executive director Rajiv Anand are potential candidates.Once the search panel shortlists the candidates, the board would have to interview each of them and make a choice. This process is expected to take a few weeks. Once the CEO is finalised, the appointment has to be approved by the shareholders and the RBI — under its fit and proper guidelines.In July last year, Axis Bank reappointed its CEO & MD Shikha Sharma for three years from June 2018. It was her fourth three-year term. In April this year, it was reported that the RBI had asked the Axis Bank board to reconsider her new term due to bank’s performance and deteriorating asset quality.Sharma’s term will come to an end in December this year. In April, the board of directors of the bank wrote to the RBI, saying that Sharma had requested them to reduce her fourth term to December 2018, instead of May 2021.

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