Abstract

State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest bank, also had an international presence with 158 offices across 32 countries contributing about 16% of its revenue. By March 2011, SBI had become the largest bank in India with a distribution network totaling 13,542 branches and 20,084 ATMs and having assets worth Rs. 12,000 billion. Since mid-2006, under OP Bhatt, SBI had adopted an aggressive strategy to raise its market share to compete against the private banks in India. Though, by 2011, SBI had re-established its position as India’s largest bank, there was a drop in profits and its leadership position in India was once again threatened. The challenge before Pratip Chaudhuri, who took up the reins of SBI in April 2011, was how to stem the rot and maintain its market leader position. This case is meant for MBA students as a part of the Business Strategy course.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Various issues and challenges faced by market leaders in maintaining its position.
• Examine the problems faced by SBI.
• Understand the strategy adopted by Chaudhuri and compare and contrast it with that of his predecessor OP Bhatt.
• Analyze the challenges faced by Chaudhuri and explore remedial actions that he could take.

Keywords

Strategic Priorities, Market Leadership, Competition, Competitive strategy, Implementation, Organizational structure, Strategic Leadership, Vision, Provisions, Non-performing assets (NPA), Capital adequacy ratio, State Bank of India, Public sector banks, Private sector banks