Business / SBI ex-Chairman Rajnish Kumar joins BharatPe board as Chairman

Former SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar has joined fintech startup BharatPe's board as Chairman. Kumar will mentor the BharatPe team during transition into small finance bank and will also be involved in defining the startup's short-term and long-term strategy. Kumar, who retired from SBI in October 2020, was previously appointed as a non-executive director for HSBC's Hong Kong-headquartered Asia unit.

Vikrant Shekhawat : Oct 12, 2021, 03:02 PM
New Delhi: Rajnish Kumar, former chief of State Bank of India, has joined the Board of BharatPe, a fintech firm, as chairman.

He will be involved in defining the company’s short-term and long-term strategies, and will so work closely with the other Board Members and CXOs on key business and regulatory initiatives, BharatPe said in a statement.

BharatPe-Centrum Capital have received an in-principle nod from the Reserve Bank of India to set up a small finance bank which would take over ailing Punjab Maharashtra Bank.

Rajnish Kumar completed the term as chairman of country's largest lender SBI in October 2020. At present, Kumar is also working as advisor (resource raising) to Andhra Pradesh government. He is also an independent non-executive director at HSBC Bank, Asia and L&T Infotech.

He will also advice and counsel the management of BharatPe on matters on business performance and corporate governance.

Kumar also served as the managing director of the National Banking Group, and the managing director (Compliance & Risk) of SBI. The senior bank official earlier headed the SBI Capital Markets Ltd (the merchant banking arm of SBI) as managing director and chief executive officer.