Within months of becoming the chief executive officer of Bank of Baroda, Sanjiv Chadha had to face social, economic and financial dislocation due to Covid. As he prepares to hang up his boots, the bank’s financial metrics have dramatically turned around and investors have seen their value rise five times from the trough. In an interview, he narrates how he navigated the Covid-induced crisis and set the lender on a firm road to recovery.
When you took charge as CEO you had certain plans. But in a few months, Covid struck and everything turned upside down. How did you adjust?
Today, we are growing our retail loans organically at 27%, which is faster than probably any private sector bank. We have also been able to attract talent from almost every bank, retain it, and also use it in terms of key functions to upgrade ourselves, says Sanjiv Chadha.
