After a tremendous tenor of successes and new milestones, Chairman of the largest lender of the country, State Bank of India, Mr O P Bhatt has retired from his post yesterday.

During his tenor of five years, Bhatt made SBI see many new triumphs ranging from taking the first position in home loan segment from housing finance major HDFC to fighting against all odds for keeping the special home loan scheme (teaser loans) going in practice.

Under his leadership, the net profits of the bank increased to Rs 11, 734 crore as on March 2010. It was s 5,530 crore in March 2006.

During his tenor, both loan and deposit books of the bank experienced five fold growth. Also he took financial inclusion plans of the bank deeper into the rural parts of the country when no other peer lender was ready for the same.

The state bank group today has a market share of 25% in the banking arena. He differed many a times against regulator RBI and had the courage to defend his stand when many others fell apart.