Mangaluru : Ananthakrishna, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Karnataka Bank Ltd, died in Mangaluru on Sunday, after a prolonged illness. Ananthakrishna (74) is survived by his wife and a son.

He was the ninth chairman of the bank and had an association of 45 years with the bank in different capacities. After joining the bank in 1971, he rose through the ranks before becoming the Chairman.

Born on October 27, 1946, at Talemogaru village of Bantwal taluk in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, Ananthakrishna completed his post graduation in Mathematics from Mysore University. He began his career as a teacher at Deepika High School at Modankaup and as lecturer at Manipal Engineering College (later renamed Manipal Institute of Technology). He then worked as a programmer for HAL before beginning his career at Karnataka Bank in 1971.

He was promoted as General Manager of the bank in October 1994, as Chief General Manager in April 1998. Ananthakrishna assumed charge as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank on July 13, 2000, a post he held up to July 12, 2009.

The bank’s turnover increased to ₹32,685.18 crore from ₹7,165.22 crore during his tenure of nine years. Ananthakrishna was also instrumental in on-boarding Karnataka Bank to the elite group of forerunners of the Core Banking Solution (CBS) platform amongst private sector banks way back in 2000.

He was appointed as non-executive Chairman of the bank on July 13, 2009, and retired from the post on October 26, 2016, on attaining 70 years of age.

Mahabaleshwara MS, MD and CEO of Karnataka Bank, said the untiring efforts and yeoman leadership of Ananthakrishna has catapulted the bank to a new pinnacle of growth in its history. “He was a guiding force to us all along. The entire Karnataka Bank family is mourning the loss of this great personality today and we are praying for eternal peace to the departed soul,” he said.

Jayarama Bhat P, Chairman of the bank, said the bank has lost a great leader, mentor and well-wisher for whom Karnataka Bank was always the first priority.