Former Chairman and CEO of Karnataka Bank Ananthakrishna passed away in Mangaluru on Sunday. He was 74.
Hailing from Bantwal, Ananthkrishna joined Karnataka Bank as an officer in 1971. He worked in different capacities at the operational level as well as management level, and was appointed chairman and CEO in the year 2000 and served till 2009. Later, he continued to serve the bank as a non-executive chairman till 2016.
Prior to a banking career, Ananthakrishna had served as a teacher at Deepika high school, Modankaup in Bantwal, and later as a lecturer at Manipal Institute of Technology. He also had a stint at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), as a junior programmer.
Karnataka Bank progressed under his leadership in all aspects of banking activities. The Bank's turnover increased to Rs 32,685.18 crore from Rs 7,165.22 crore during his tenure of 9 years. Net profit also jumped to Rs 266.70 crore from Rs 40.71 crores.
Ananthakrishna was also instrumental in onboarding Karnataka Bank to the elite group of fore-runners in Core Banking Solution (CBS) platform amongst the private sector banks way back in the year 2000. Under his leadership, Bank took a significant leap in adopting and promoting technology backed products including ATMs, Debit Cards, and Internet Banking.
Paying tributes to the departed soul on behalf of the entire Karnataka Bank family, Mahabaleshwara M S, MD & CEO of the Bank said, “The untiring efforts and yeomen leadership of Ananthakrishna has catapulted the Bank to a new pinnacle of growth in the history of the Bank. His long four and half decades of service to this institution is truly remarkable. He was a guiding force to us all along.”
He is survived by his wife and son.