mumbai, Sept. 28 -- Eight of India's 11 public sector banks, excluding State Bank of India (SBI), currently lack a non-executive chairman, with some vacancies persisting for years, pointing to prolonged appointment delays and raising questions about oversight at key financial institutions handling public money. The role of a non-executive chairman is crucial, providing board leadership, broad policy direction and oversight of governance. The issue assumes greater significance in view of a new Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governance framework for banks which takes effect on October 1. It says the chairperson has primary responsibility for setting the board's agenda, while the board bears ultimate responsibility for business strategy, financial soundness, key personnel decisions, governance and risk management. The new RBI guidelines are silent on a fundamental question: in the absence of a non-executive chairman, who performs the chairperson's governance role at these banks? "I feel that the chairman plays a very important role, a non-executive chairman, from a governance point of view in these boards," said a former bank chairman on condition of anonymity. "A chairman's role at a board, anywhere in the world, is not a redundant role. Otherwise, people would have done away with it," this person added. Only Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank and UCO Bank have serving non-executive chairmen, according to the latest data from the Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB). Unlike other state-run and private banks where the top executive is designated managing director and chief executive officer (MD and CEO), SBI has an executive chairman at its helm. To be sure, Reserve Bank of India guidelines allow the managing director to preside over board meetings in the absence of the chairman. But that arrangement may not fully replicate the governance role envisaged for a separate chairman. The vacancies range from 8 years at Indian Bank to 11 years at Bank of Maharashtra, with recent vacancies at Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and Union Bank of India....