The board of mortgage lender Indiabulls Housing Finance on Saturday approved the appointment of Dinabandhu Mohapatra as an independent director of the company with effect from November 23. Mohapatra was the former managing director and CEO of Bank of India (BoI).

The latest appointment could reflect its banking ambitions and it comes just a day after an RBI panel chaired by its central board director P.K. Mohanty recommended that large non-banks with an asset size of Rs 50,000 crore, including those which are owned by a corporate house, be allowed to convert to banks.

Last October, the RBI had rejected a proposal to merge Indiabulls Housing Finance with Lakshmi Vilas Bank, following allegations that money worth thousands of crores were siphoned off by its founder and the directors. Subsequently, the petitioner who had approached the Supreme Court alleging the misappropriation of funds withdrew the plea made against the founder.

In August this year, Indiabulls Housing Finance had announced the appointment of former RBI deputy governor Subhash Sheoratan Mundra as its non-executive chairman.

Dinabandhu Mohapatra is a seasoned banker with a career spanning over three decades, during which he held various high level positions, including executive director of Canara Bank and CEO of the Hong Kong and Singapore centres of BoI.