MUMBAI, February 8: The year 1998-99 is going to be a headless period for the financial sector, considering the number of high-profile executives calling it a day. The list includes Industrial Development Bank of India chairman S H Khan, State Bank of India chief M S Verma, LIC chairman G Krishnamurthy and GIC chairman K C Mittal. Then, there is the Bank of India (BOI) chief M G Bhide, and also managing directors of State Bank of India (SBI) and LIC who will hang up their boots. M G Bhide has already set the ball rolling seeking premature retirement ten months ahead of schedule. Bhide put in his papers in January and sought to be relieved of his responsibility on April 30 on "personal grounds". Others are set to step down and opt for superannuation. Khan of IDBI will retire in June while SBI chairman Verma will step down in November after being at the helm of affairs for about two years.The entire insurance sector will be virtually headless in the next few months. Both the chiefs of LIC and GIC - GKrishnamurthy and K C Mittal -will call it a day in June. Even before the chairman retires, LIC managing director R N Tripathy will step down in April. The second MD's post has been lying vacant over a year now.To make matters worse for the LIC, 11 of its 22 executive directors will go for superannuation by December this year. Among the GIC subsidiaries, all the four general managers of New India Insurance will hang up their boots by the end of the calender year.The post of the chairman-cum-managing director of Oriental Insurance has been lying vacant since M V Purohit retired last month.The worst hit, apparently, is SBI which will lose its chairman, both MDs and six DMDs within a span of 11 months - between April 1998 and February next year.The procession of outgoing executives will be led by K Govindan, DMD, international banking, who will step down in April, followed by V K Merhotra, DMD (audit and inspection) in July 98, S N Sawaikar, DMD, (associate banks and subsidiaries) in August 98, OP Sethia, managing director and group head, national banking, in October 98, A R Barwe, MD, SBI Caps, in October 98, BM Bhide, DMD (chief development officer), in November 98, MP Radhakrishnan, MD and group head, corporate accounts group, in January 99, PK Bhattacharjee, DMD (chief financial officer) in January 99.At the moment, a number of public sector banks do not have executive directors. All four Mumbai-based PSU banks - BoB, BoI, Central Bank and Dena Bank - do not have EDs. BoB ED Krishnamurty has recently taken over as the chief of the Manipal-based Syndicate Bank while BoI's acting ED stepped down this month. In Dena Bank the post has been vacant ever since its Dalbir Singh took over Oriental Bank of Commerce last year. Two other PSU banks which do not have EDs at present are Indian Bank and Andhra Bank. Indian Bank's former ED R S Hugar took over as chairman of the Mangalore-based Corporation Bank last year.
