This refers to “Ex bureaucrat named ICICI Bank Chairman” (June 30). It has been for long recognised that banks should be managed by professional bankers and that their chief executives be persons who have spent life time in banking. The appointment, therefore, of an ex-bureaucrat and that too well over 65 years of age as chief executive of ICICI Bank Ltd is a retrograde step. No doubt ICICI has, of late, faced problems on account of its last chairman, but that doesn’t justify a departure from the recognised principle in appointment of its chief executive. There would be certainly no dearth of able professionals to replace the outgoing person.
Indian bureaucrats, are of late, not known to have shown the required degree of independence in resisting political pressures in the normal area of work. To make them, especially the retired ones among them, as heads of banks, is a sure way of importing politics into the country’s banking system.
R C Mody New Delhi
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