D Sarkar, who has been serving as the CMD of Union Bank of India has been appointed as chairman of the governing board of IBPS who has now replaced M D Mallya, former CMD of Bank of Baroda. Sarkar was executive director of Kolkata- based Allahabad Bank. He started his career with Bank of Baroda in 1982.Public Sector Banks have been asked by the Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to play a more greater role in hiring of employees and do not be completely dependent on Institute of Banking Personnel Selection(IBPS). He asked the chiefs of Public sector banks to design their own recruitment policy suiting their requirements. Currently, 19 Public Sector Banks collectively exercise recruitment drive through IBPS and State Bank of India Group of Banks does not participate in its recruitment of candidates. Much of the Candidates prefer big names in the banking industry for their careers and many go for a nearby heaquarter when the candidates are asked to name three banks they like to appear for interview if selected after giving written examination. This could mean there could not be common interviews for the IBPS conducted examinations in future.
Right now, IBPS is the sole body which conducts large-scale examinations, screen candidates and has the infrastructure to do so. IBPS has a massive task when banks receive over lakhs of applications in their recruitment exercises and they have to conduct and shortlist the candidates. IBPS tested 9.7 million candidates in the year 2011-12. Not only for banks, IBPS also conducts exams for insurance companies and even central and state government companies.
