Media Release

Mangaluru, Oct 16: Private sector lender Karnataka Bank Ltd has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India for appointment of Pradeep Kumar Panja, an independent director of the bank as part time non-executive chairman of the bank w.e.f. November 14 for a period of three years. He will be succeeding P Jayarama Bhat who will be completing his term of chairmanship on November 13 as approved by the RBI.

Pradeep Kumar Panja is a career banker and retired as managing director (Corporate Banking) of State Bank of India (SBI), the largest bank of the country. Prior to this, he also held the post of managing director of State Bank of Travancore for about a year. During his long association of 39 years with SBI (3 years of which at Board level), he gained rich experience in various areas of banking including corporate and international banking, treasury management, information technology, retail, transaction banking, strategic planning, business development, risk management.

Currently, he is a member of Banks Board Bureau (BBB) and also director on the boards of seven companies (including three listed companies including Karnataka Bank) engaged in the business of asset reconstruction, cement, real estate, NBFC, AFI etc.

Pradeep Kumar Panja hails from Panja village located in Dakshina Kannada. He is on the board of Karnataka Bank Ltd. since August 19, 2020. His appointment as an independent director has been approved by the shareholders at their 97th annual general neeting held on September 2.