SBI's New Chairman Challa Sreenivasulu Setty Emphasises On Bottom-Up Management Style

Challa Sreenivasulu Setty, the State Bank of India's newly-appointed chairman, issued a letter to the company emphasising his commitment to a bottom-up approach to management.

In it, Setty said that he and the rest of the upper management in the company will meet employees across their network and discuss goal setting—both on a personal level as well as on the company level.

"It will be my endeavour to meet you personally, understand your ambitions and career aspirations and discuss how we can jointly achieve the vision we have laid down for SBI," the letter said.

Setty also spoke about steering the company towards innovation, evolution and achieving new heights by invoking an anecdote from his childhood.

The chairman recalled that as a child, he was taught to navigate damp rice fields after a downpour by balancing both feet on the slippery bunds bordering the muddy fields without skidding or losing balance.

"This early, rustic lesson has stayed with me till now, much like the foundational experiences I have had at SBI. Just as those first steps on the bunds were essential practice for navigating the path ahead, the initial stages of our career shape us and provide us the grounding to build our own future," Setty said.

He praised India and said it is achieving a "pole position in the community of nations.".

"This is India's decade and I want it to be SBI's decade too," the SBI chairman stated.

Shares of State Bank of India closed 0.97% lower at Rs 807.95 apiece on the NSE, compared to a 0.14% advance in the NSE Nifty 50.