Only 10 per cent incumbent Directors in the Management Boards of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) are women, reveals the data provided by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.
Main findings from the data analysis:
- Taken together, the number of incumbent Directors and vacant posts on the PSB boards comes to 186 posts. Out of this only 122 posts have been filled up as on date;
- Out of these incumbent Directors 109 are men, only 13 of them are women (10.66%). Canara Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank and Union Bank of India have two women Directors each. Bank of Maharashtra, Central Bank of India and UCO Bank do not have any woman Director on their Board. The remaining five PSBs have one woman Director each on their respective Boards;
- A total of 64 posts of Directors are vacant in the 12 PSBs. This is more than one third (34.41%) of the 186 posts that ought to have been filled up;
- The largest and the richest among the PSBs- State Bank of India has seven vacancies on its Board. Bank of Maharashtra and Central Bank of India also have seven vacancies each;
- Bank of India and UCO Bank have six vacancies each on their respective boards. The remaining banks have between four to five vacancies each;
- None of the management boards PSBs have the full complement of Directors as required by law;
- The oldest vacancy is from September 2009 in Punjab and Sind Bank and the most recent vacancy is from 01 January, 2023 in Canara Bank. The remaining vacancies have arisen between 2014 and 2022. Seven posts fell vacant in 2014, five in 2015, 13 in 2016, five in 2017, three in 2018, eight in 2019, 12 in 2020, four in 2021 and two in 2022;
- It is interesting to note that at least 13 vacancies continue to exist from before 2016- the year in which the BBB now rechristened as FSIB was constituted. This number might increase if the exact date on which the BBB became fully operational;
- Category-wise, there are 12 vacancies each in the Officer Employee Director and Workmen Employee Director category. In other words, none of the 12 PSBs have made appointments to these posts as required by law. Officer Employee Directors and Workmen Employee Directors are appointed under Sections 9(3)(f) and 9(3)(e) respectively, of The Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970. These statutory provisions are fleshed out in paragraph 3 of Chapter 2 of the Nationalised Banks (Management and Miscellaneous Provisions) Scheme, 1970 issuedunder the 1970 Act. More on this point in the next segment;
- With the exception of the State Bank of India, 11 PSB boards do not have a non-official Director with Chartered Accountancy specialisation. Banking experts point out, this Director is the Chairperson of the Bank’s Audit Committee which vets the decisions of these banks, especially with regard to lending operations. More on this point in the next segment;
- The posts of non-Executive Chairman are vacant in six PSBs, namely, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Central Bank of India, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and UCO Bank;
- Indian Overseas Bank and Punjab and Sind Bank have one vacancy each of the post of Shareholder Director; and
- The post of the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) fell vacant in Canara Bank last week.
Implications of the vacancies
“The above findings make it amply clear that every PSB is functioning with truncated management boards. Vacancies identified above comprise between 30-50% of the board strength in each PSB.
