# M. Balachandran

Muthusamy Balachandran (born 1 May 1947) is an Indian banker who served as the chairman and managing director (CMD) of Bank of India from June 2005 to April 2007. Before his appointment as the CMD of Bank of India, he was the executive director of the same bank. He also served as chairman of board of National Payment Corporation of India Limited before steeping down in 2017.

## Career

He obtained his M.Sc. in Agriculture, Agriculture Operations and Related Sciences from University of Madras in 1969. His role model was M.S. Swaminathan. He wanted to be a researcher and was almost ready to take up research in plant breeding and genetics but then he gave an interview to Bank of Baroda. He also had a stint of teaching in Agricultural University (TN) before taking to banking as career in 1970.
He commenced his banking career in June 1970 as a Specialist Direct Recruit Officer in Bank of Baroda and worked in different capacities, including as the Senior Manager (Agriculture), Chief Manager (Agriculture), Regional Manager, Deputy General Manager (Priority sector). He stepped in the general banking sector when he was promoted to the position of General Manager and Zonal Manager of Bank of Baroda, Chennai Zone in 1996. Thereafter, he was moved to New York as the chief executive officer of Bank of Baroda of American Branch. He stepped down in 2003.
In 2004, he was appointed as the executive director of Bank of India by the Government of India. On 9 June 2005, he started serving as the chairman and managing director of Bank of India. He was also named as nominee of Bank of India in Indo Zambia Bank. In 2005, he was announced as a director of NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS) and also of AFC India, both of them are subsidiaries of NABARD. He was also chairman BOI Shareholding Ltd which is a joint venture between Bank of India (51%) and BSE (49%). He stepped from all his position by April 2007.
In 2007, he was named director of board of Small Industries Development Bank of India as well as of Institute of Banking Personnel Selection.
In 2008, he was named as non-executive chairman of Star Union Dai Ichi Life Insurance Co., which is a joint venture between Bank of India, Union Bank of India and Dai-ichi Life Insurance.
In May 2010, he was named as a trustee of DHAN Foundation.
In 2013, he was announced as a Director of Board of PNB MetLife Insurance Company, a joint venture between Punjab National Bank and MetLife Insurance, and later in same year was also named as Chairman of board of National Payment Corporation of India.
Since 2016, he is serving as an Independent Director of Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Funds Management Corporation (TNIFMC).
Since July 2017, he is Chairman of Sasvitha Home Finance Ltd.

## Contributions

During his tenure as chairman and managing director, Bank of India completed its 100 years and crossed many significant milestones in technology, rural finance and international banking. The bank successfully migrated to new tech-platform (CBS) in record time adopting a unique outsourcing model; which has had international acclaim. The bank embarked upon a major transformation through business process reengineering. In overseas operations the bank expanded by adding new branches in Belgium and China with three offices, and acquired a listed bank in Indonesia, the first-ever such acquisition by an Indian bank. The bank also instituted a trust 'Abhay' for financial education and credit counselling, an initiative, first of its kind in India.
He was the first chief of Gram Vikas Kendra at Bank of Baroda, at Pollachi, Tamil Nadu. Further, he is a postgraduate in agriculture science from Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, Coimbatore, South India.
Balachandran was the chairman of Mumbai-headquartered Star Union Dai-ichi Insurance Company, a joint venture of Bank of India, Union Bank of India and Japan's leading insurance company – The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd. He is also a director of Institute of Banking Personnel Selection, Mumbai.
He was a director of Indo Zambia Bank Ltd., a joint venture in Zambia between Indian Public Sector Banks and Government of Zambia. He has been a director of ASREC (India) Ltd., an asset reconstruction company. Shri Balachandran was the chairman of BOI Shareholding Ltd., and director on the board of Agriculture Finance Corporation Ltd., and NABARD Consultancy Services Ltd.
Balachandran is also associated with several committees of RBI, IBA, NABARD and Govt. of India, notable of which are - High Power Expert Committee of Govt. of India for making "Mumbai as an International Financial Centre."
He is now chairman of National Payment Corporation of India Ltd., and Small Industrial Development Bank of India [SIDBI].