The Reserve bank of India (RBI) on March 17 has approved
a three-month extension to Rajeev Ahuja, interim managing director & chief
executive officer (MD&CEO) of RBL Bank, with effect from March 25, 2022.

In an exchange filing, the bank said, “We wish to further
inform that on request of the bank, RBI vide its letter dated March 17, 2022,
has approved the extension of the term of Rajeev Ahuja, interim MD&CEO of
the Bank for a further period of three months with effect from March 25, 2022,
or till the appointment of a regular MD & CEO, whichever is earlier”.

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Ahuja was appointed as the interim MD & CEO of the
RBL Bank on December 25 after the then MD & CEO Vishwavir Ahuja went on
leave after RBI appointed one of its chief general managers as an additional
director. The RBI had appointed Yogesh Dayal as an additional director on the
Board of the bank for two years effective December 24.

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The bank had appointed a search committee to identify
candidates for the position of MD and CEO from within and outside the bank.
After the quarterly results, Ahuja had said that the board is taking the matter
of identifying candidates for the post of MD & CEO in an expeditious
manner.

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In his first press conference as interim MD & CEO,
Rajeev Ahuja tried to ease fears about asset quality and liquidity of the bank. He said the
bank had a cash surplus of over Rs 15,000 crore and emphasized that the asset
quality has improved over the quarter and now looks stable. He added that the bank
was rebalancing its loan portfolio and trimming down the risky unsecured loan
books.

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After the rumours were spread around the bank’s financial
health, the RBI released a statement on December 27 saying there was no need
for depositors and other stakeholders to react to the speculative reports as
the bank’s financial health remains stable. He added that the bank was
rebalancing its loan portfolio and trimming down the risky unsecured loan
books.

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In the third quarter
ended December 31 (Q3FY22), RBL reported five times increase in net profit to
Rs 156 crore. However, its total deposits fell 3% sequentially to Rs 73,639
crore. For Q3FY22, the lender’s gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratio stood
at 4.84% as compared to 5.40% the previous quarter, while the net NPA ratio
improved to 1.85% from 2.14%.