Govt Extends Tenure Of FSIB Chairman, Board By A Year

The FSIB, an autonomous body under the Government of India, is responsible for recommending candidates for appointments to the boards of various financial institutions — Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and insurance companies. It also advises on personnel matters within these institutions. 

With their extensions, the chairperson and other members of the FSIB will remain in office till June 30, 2026. The chairman of the FSIB is Bhanu Pratap Sharma, who was earlier the Secretary of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

Approving the extension, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, which is headed by the PM, in its order, stated it was for a “...further period of one year beyond June 30, 2025, that is with effect from July 1, 2025 up to June 30, 2026 or until further orders". 

Notably, the term of the chairman and other members of the FSIB was extended by a year last year as well.

Other members of the headhunters bureau are Animesh Chauhan, former chairman and MD of the erstwhile Oriental Bank of Commerce, ex-ED of RBI Deepak Singhal, and Shailendra Bhandari, former MD of the erstwhile ING Vysya Bank.

For insurance sector appointments, Usha Sangwan, former MD of LIC, A V Girija Kumar, former Chairman and MD of Oriental Insurance Company Ltd, and Sujay Banarji, former whole-time member (distribution) of IRDAI, have also been given extensions as part-time members.

Earlier Avatar: Banks Board Bureau

Sharma was appointed as Chairman of the Banks Board Bureau (BBB), the earlier avatar of the FSIB, in 2018, replacing the first chairman, Vinod Rai, on the completion of the latter's two-year term.

In 2016, the PM had approved the constitution of the BBB as a body of eminent professionals and officials to make recommendations for the appointments of whole-time directors and non-executive chairpersons of PSBs and state-owned financial institutions.

In 2022, the government transformed the BBB into the FSIB through some amendments. Guidelines for the selection of general managers and directors of public sector general insurance companies were brought under the FSIB, making it the single entity for making recommendations for appointments of whole-time directors and non-executive chairmen of banks and financial institutions.