A visionary leader with many achievements to his credit, Mr. O.P. Bhatt currently serves as Independent Non-Executive Director at Hindustan Unilever Ltd., Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, and Tata Consultancy Services. Since January 2013, he also holds the post of Non-Executive Director at Standard Chartered PLC. In addition, he is a Governor on the Board of the Center for Creative Leadership, a US non-profit leadership development organization.

Prior to this, Mr. Bhatt was the Chairman of the State Bank Group, which includes the State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest commercial bank. He held this post until March 2011, which marked the end of an illustrious 38-year-long career. During this tenure, Mr. Bhatt left his mark in many areas, beginning with the Lead Bank Department, which ushered in financial inclusion. He then led the team that pioneered SBI’s technology initiative in the 1990s, following which he successfully completed numerous assignments at the London and Washington offices of SBI, held numerous General Management roles between 2004-2006, went on to become the Managing Director of SBI in 2006, which finally culminated in his appointment as Chairman in the same year.
Mr. Bhatt successfully navigated SBI through some of the economy’s most turbulent periods, by capitalising on the bank’s strengths. Under his leadership, SBI gained in ranking on the Fortune 500 list.
Mr. Bhatt is the recipient of numerous awards for his outstanding leadership. These recognitions include the ‘CNN-IBN Indian of the Year for Business’ award in 2007, the ‘Best Executive of the Year 2008’ award by Asia Money, the ‘Best Banker of the Year 2008’ award bestowed by the Financial Express, and the NDTV award for ‘Inspiring Business Leader in a Crisis’ in 2009. He has also been honoured with the ‘JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award for the year 2009’.