(Reuters) -Indian private lender IndusInd Bank said on Friday it had received approval from the country’s central bank to reappoint Sumant Kathpalia as its chief executive officer and managing director for a period of one year.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved Kathpalia’s term to be extended from March 24 this year to March 23, 2026, IndusInd said.
The private lender’s board in September had approved Kathpalia’s reappointment as CEO for a three-year term.
Typically, the RBI gives a three-year extension period for the reappointment of CEOs.
However, there have been instances where the RBI gave one-year extensions to bank CEOs, with the most notable cases being those of former Kotak Mahindra Bank CEO Uday Kotak, former Federal Bank CEO Shyam Srinivasan and former RBL Bank CEO Vishwavir Ahuja.
Kathpalia, with 37 years of experience as a career banker, has been with IndusInd Bank for 17 years.
He has also worked with global banks, including Citibank, Bank of America and ABN AMRO.
IndusInd is currently dealing with increased stress from its microfinance segment, where the gross non-performing assets ratio is deteriorating, resulting in the lender missing its third-quarter profit estimates.
Microfinance forms 9% of the bank’s total loans.
(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru and Siddhi Nayak in Mumbai; Editing by Shreya Biswas)
