The Finance Ministry wants relatively younger officers to be at the helm of public sector banks. The latest guidelines on public sector bank promotions, issued by the Ministry, provide for a bright and ambitious officer to head a bank by the time he is in his mid-to-late-40s if he proves himself to be an ‘all-rounder'. As things stand now, by the time an officer is elevated as the chief of a public sector bank, he is either in his mid- or late-50s.

What the Ministry is envisaging is that an exceptionally bright probationary officer, joining a public sector bank at 22, can become a general manager at 40 if he gets promotion once in three years under the ‘merit channel' and go on to head a bank at 45.

However, the climb-up in the organisation ladder — from Scale I (officer) to Scale VII (general manager) — is not going to be easy. It calls for some tenacity on the part of an officer. He has to have worked across the country; done rural and semi-urban stints at an early stage in his career; have experience as a branch head; have headed or worked in regional, zonal, or head offices and handled various business verticals at higher levels.

Source: The Hindu Business Line