State Bank of India Chair
SBI instituted the State Bank of India Chair on Energy and Environment, with special emphasis on innovations in the field of solar energy. The State Bank of India is an Indian multinational public sector bank headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a statutory body and government-owned corporation. SBI is the largest banking and financial services organization in India, with an asset base of over INR 61 trillion and serving over 50 crore customers through a network of more than 23,288 branches and 82,900 BC outlets. The Bank also has a global presence through 241 offices in 29 foreign countries.
Current Occupant
Prof. Mahendra Kumar Verma
(Sep. 2025 - Sep. 2028)
Prof. Mahendra Kumar Verma from the department of Physics, IIT Kanpur, has research interests in turbulence and nonlinear dynamics, magnetohydrodynamic turbulence, dynamo; liquid metal MHD, buoyancy-driven turbulence; thermal convection; stably stratified turbulence, high-performance computing, nonequilibrium statistical physics; and solar and astrophysics. He received his B.Tech. From IIT Madras and Ph.D. from University of Maryland, USA. Prof. Verma is a recipient of Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Teachers Award.
Former Occupant
Prof. Avinash Kumar Agarwal
(Apr. 2022 - Apr. 2025)
Prof. Avinash Kumar Agarwal, Department of Mechanical Engineering, areas of interest include IC engines, combustion, conventional fuels, alternative fuels, methanol fuelled engine development, hydrogen, LCA and TCO analyses, fuel sprays, lubricating oil tribology, optical diagnostics, laser ignition, HCCI, particulate and emission control, and large bore engines.
For his outstanding contributions, Prof. Agarwal is conferred upon Sir J. C. Bose National Fellowship (2019) by SERB, Clarivate Analytics India Citation Award-2017 in Engineering and Technology, Prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2016) in Engineering Sciences, Rajib Goyal Prize in Physical Sciences (2015); NASI-Reliance Industries Platinum Jubilee Award (2012); INAE Silver Jubilee Young Engineer Award (2012); Dr C. V. Raman Young Teachers Award (2011); SAE International's Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award (2008); INSA Young Scientist Award (2007); UICT Young Scientist Award (2007); INAE Young Engineer Award (2005); Devendra Shukla Research Fellowship (2009-12), Poonam and Prabhu Goyal Endowed Chair Professorship (2013-16), AICTE Career Award for Young Teachers (2004); DST Young Scientist Award (2002); and DST BOYSCAST Fellowship (2002).
He is an elected Fellow of Society of Automotive Engineers International, USA (SAE; 2012), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME; 2013), Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE; 2015), International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (ISEES; 2016), Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC; 2018), National Academy of Science Allahabad (NASI; 2018), World Society of Sustainable Energy Technologies (WSSET-2020), American Association for Advancement in Science (AAAS; 2020) and Combustion Institute USA (CI; 2022).
Prof. Avinash Kumar Agarwal earned his doctorate in Energy from the IIT, Delhi in 1996.