Rakesh Sharma has taken charge as the managing director and chief executive officer of IDBI Bank with effect from Wednesday.

The Union government had on October 5 announced Sharma’s appointment as the managing director and CEO of the lender for a period of six months.

Sharma retired from Canara Bank as the managing director and CEO after serving for a period of three years from September 11, 2015 till July 31, 2018. Before Canara Bank, he was the MD and CEO of Lakshmi Vilas Bank from April 7, 2014 till September 9, 2015. He started his career with the State Bank of India, where he held the position of chief general manager before moving to Lakshmi Vilas Bank.

He has more than 33 years of experience in the SBI, holding key positions, which included head of mid corporate accounts in the Andhra Pradesh region, supervising retail operations in the states of Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Western UP, banking operations in international banking group and credit assignments in specialised branches and administrative offices.

Prior to Sharma, IDBI Bank was headed by B. Sriram, who retired on September 30, after serving for three months starting June 30.

Shares of IDBI Bank on Wednesday ended marginally higher at Rs 59.05 on a day the benchmark index rose more than 461 points.