New Chief of India's Biggest Bank Faces Mounting Bad Debts

  • Rajnish Kumar is named as chairman of State Bank of India
  • Replaces Arundhati Bhattacharya whose four-year term is ending
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government tapped Rajnish Kumar to helm State Bank of India, handing him the task of curtailing a surge in bad debts at the nation’s biggest lender.

Kumar, who has headed the state-run bank’s domestic lending business since November 2015, will become chairman on Oct. 7 as Arundhati Bhattacharya’s four-year term ends, the government said in a statement late Wednesday. The 59-year-old Kumar will have the role for three years.