Rajnish Kumar has an unmissable quirk. The former chairperson of the State Bank of India (SBI)—the country’s largest public sector lender—ends most of his sentences with an animated nod or “isn’t it?” The 65-year-old uses these gestures as a means to subtly and almost involuntarily seek agreement.

Through his four-decade stint at SBI, Kumar has rubbed shoulders with industrial contract monopolists, gangsters, egoistic union leaders, and disinterested colleagues. He has also been posted at the red corridors of Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh.

It’s no surprise that the consensus Kumar so amicably seeks has always been a necessity.

And it couldn’t have worked out better for him: ever since Kumar retired from SBI’s top-most position in October 2020, he has been on a roll.

In February 2021, he joined private lender Kotak Mahindra Bank. Presently, he is a board member for large corporations such as Ambuja Cements Ltd, Larsen & Toubro Ltd, and Hero Motocorp Ltd, among others. In September, he was appointed as the non-executive chairman of the Indian arm of Mastercard Inc., a leading credit-card network.

But that’s old hat. For former SBI chiefs, to be on the board of established organisations is “business as usual”.

The likes of Om Prakash Bhatt and Arundhati Bhattacharya have all held key positions in private companies after retirement. For instance, Bhattacharya—the chairperson and chief executive of software giant Salesforce Inc.’s India business—is also on the board of Reliance Industries Ltd.

However, Kumar claims to be unlike any of his predecessors. “My character is diametrically opposite to what typically you would expect from a senior functionary in SBI,” he told The Ken over a morning tea at The Leela Ambience Hotel in Gurugram last Thursday.

For one, Kumar embraces startups, a path untouched by all his predecessors.

Exactly a year after his retirement, he became the chairperson of Bharatpe, an exponentially growing fintech at the time. He is on many advisory boards: edtech major Byju’s [Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd],  hospitality giant Oyo* [Oravel Stays], and online lending platform Indifi Technologies.

What makes Kumar irresistible to startups? His former SBI colleague breaks it down:

“First, startups need a credible and experienced person on their governance boards. Who better than an SBI chairperson? Second, Rajnish formulated policies that did away with a lengthy tender process [for procurement], making it much easier for startups to sell services to SBI.