BoB’s former chief digital officer Akhil Handa says he was not terminated

The controversy around Bank of Baroda’s mobile application ‘bob world’ refuses to die down. Now, different versions about the separation of Akhil Handa, former chief digital lending officer from Bank of Baroda, have added a twist. While Handa claims he was serving a notice period after resignation, the Bank said his services were terminated.

Debadatta Chand, managing director and CEO, BOB, in a media call post Q2FY24 results said, “We have taken action on a large set of people in terms of people in the field. So, as far as the CDO is concerned, it is cessation of service induced by the bank, and that is termination, and currently, we are putting in someone as CDO, so if the time comes, we will look out for a new CDO.”

On October 31, 2023, BoB, in a filing with BSE, had said that Kadgatoor Sheetal Venkatesmurt will handle this charge (digital lending) in addition to her role as head of digital channels and operations. The reason for the change is due to the cessation of employment of Akhil Handa.

Countering the bank’s version of the termination of his services, Handa in a statement said, “My exit was a personal decision that I conveyed to the top management in August, and since then, I had been serving my notice period. The narrative of termination seems a deflection of operational lapses at the branch level.” When queried if he was seeking legal counsel to challenge the termination action, he replied, saying, “I will keep you posted.”

The Bank and its top officials did not respond to calls, emails, and messages sent on Sunday to know its stand on the matter till the time of going to the press.

On October 10, 2021, the Reserve Bank of India had asked BOB to suspend with immediate effect on-boarding new customers on ‘bob World’ due to supervisory concerns over the manner of on-boarding onto the mobile application.