| Post: | Chairman |
| Body: | State Bank of India |
| Incumbent: | Challa Sreenivasulu Setty |
| Incumbentsince: | 28 August 2024 |
| Residence: | Dunedin Bunglow, Mumbai |
| Termlength: | Three years |
| Appointer: | Government of India |
| Constituting Instrument: | The State Bank of India Act, 1955 |
| Deputy: | 4 Managing Directors and 8 Directors[1] |
The chairperson of the State Bank of India is the chief executive officer of India's largest scheduled commercial bank and the ex-officio chair of its Central Board of Directors. Since its establishment in 1955 by the government of India, the State Bank of India has been headed by twenty-sevenchairpersons.
The term of office typically runs for three years and can, in some cases, be extended for another two years. However, in practice, only four Chairmen, Raj Kumar Talwar, O. P. Bhatt, Arundhati Bhattacharya and Dinesh Kumar Khara had their terms extended. Arundhati Bhattacharya was also the first female chairperson of the bank and continues to be the only woman to have held that post.
The inaugural officeholder was the Indian railway minister John Matthai, while Raj Kumar Talwar holds the unique distinction of having been in office for the longest time. H. V. R. Iengar and P. C. Bhattacharya also held the post of governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Borra Venkatappaiah also held the post of the Deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
Although the State Bank of India, through its predecessors, the Imperial Bank of India and others, has existed in some form since 1806, this article strives to list only those chairmen who have headed the bank since its formation in its modern form, that is since 1955.
Challa Sreenivasulu Setty is the current chairman of the State Bank of India since 28 August 2024.
| Officeholder | Portrait | data-sort-type="date" scope="col" | Term start | data-sort-type="date" scope="col" | Term end | Term in office | Background | Other offices held | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Matthai | 1 July 1955 | 30 September 1956 | Economist | Minister of Railways and Minister of Finance | [2] [3] [4] [5] | |||
| 2 | H. V. R. Iengar | 1 October 1956 | 28 February 1957 | Indian Civil Service officer | Governor of the Reserve Bank of India | [6] | |||
| 3 | P. C. Bhattacharya | 1 March 1957 | 28 February 1962 | Indian Audits and Accounts Service officer | Governor of the Reserve Bank of India | [7] | |||
| 4 | Borra Venkatappaiah | 1 March 1962 | 28 February 1965 | Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer | Deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India | [8] | |||
| 5 | V. T. Dehejia | 1 March 1965 | 28 February 1969 | Career civil servant | Indian Civil Service officer | [9] | |||
| 6 | Raj Kumar Talwar | 1 March 1969 | 3 August 1976 | (longest tenure) | Career banker | [10] [11] | |||
| 7 | T. R. Varadachary | 4 August 1976 | 30 April 1977 | Career banker | [12] | ||||
| 8 | P. C. D. Nambiar | 23 May 1977 | 13 December 1982 | Career banker | [13] [14] | ||||
| 9 | V. S. Natarajan | 20 December 1982 | 30 January 1983 | Career banker | [15] [16] | ||||
| 10 | R. P. Goyal | 31 January 1983 | 30 November 1983 | Career banker | [17] | ||||
| 11 | Vishwanath N. Nadkarni | 1 December 1983 | 27 July 1984 | Career banker | [18] [19] [20] | ||||
| 12 | D. N. Ghosh | 13 May 1985 | 12 May 1989 | Career civil servant | Indian Audit and Accounts Service officer | [21] [22] [23] | |||
| 13 | Atal V. | 15 January 1990 | 17 February 1990 | Career banker | [24] | ||||
| 14 | M. N. Goiporia | 19 February 1990 | 31 July 1992 | Career banker | Chairman of the Central Bank of India | [25] [26] | |||
| 15 | Dipankar Basu | 25 February 1993 | 31 August 1995 | Career banker | Economist | [27] [28] [29] | |||
| 16 | P. G. Kakodkar | 1 October 1995 | 31 March 1997 | Career banker | Chairman of the Goa Public Service Commission | [30] [31] | |||
| 17 | M. S. Verma | 1 April 1997 | 30 September 1998 | Career banker | Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India | [32] [33] | |||
| 18 | M. P. Radhakrishnan | 1 December 1998 | 31 January 1999 | Career banker | Economist | [34] [35] | |||
| 19 | G. G. Vaidya | 01 February 1999 | 01 October 2000 | Career banker | Chairman of the State Bank of Travancore | [36] [37] | |||
| 20 | Janki Vallabh | 1 November 2000 | 31 October 2002 | Career banker | Economist | [38] [39] | |||
| 21 | Arun Kumar Purwar | 13 November 2002 | 31 May 2006 | Career banker | Chairman of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry Senior lecturer at the University of Allahabad | [40] [41] | |||
| 22 | O. P. Bhatt | 01 July 2006 | 31 March 2011 | Career banker | Chairman of the Indian Banks' Association | [42] [43] | |||
| 23 | Pratip Chaudhuri | 7 April 2011 | 30 September 2013 | Career banker | Chairman of the State Bank of Saurashtra | [44] [45] [46] | |||
| 24 | Arundhati Bhattacharya | 1 October 2013 | 6 October 2017 | Career banker | Head of India Operations of Salesforce | [47] [48] [49] | |||
| 25 | Rajnish Kumar | 7 October 2017 | 6 October 2020 | Career banker | Chairman of the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance | [50] [51] [52] | |||
| 26 | Dinesh Kumar Khara | 7 October 2020 | 28 August 2024 | Career banker | Chairman of the SBI Life Insurance Company | [53] [54] [55] | |||
| 27 | Challa Sreenivasulu Setty | 28 August 2024 | Incumbent | Career Banker | Managing Director of the State Bank of India | [56] [57] [58] [59] [60] |