Pune based Cosmos Bank, the second largest cooperative bank of the country has taken over Urban Cooperative Bank, Bhubaneshwar , Odisha.
Talking to Indiancooperative.com Dr Mukund Abhyankar, Director with Cosmos bank said our bank could easily manage the affairs of its new acquisition given our vast experiences.
UCB Bhubaneshwar has Rs 28 crores in deposit with a loan liability of about Rs 18 crore. About Rs 14 crore is bad debt, he added.
UCB Bhubaneshwar has five branches and their acquisition by Cosmos would swell the number of cosmos branches to 129 across many states.
This is the 17th take-over by Cosmos that prides itself as the fastest growing cooperative bank in the country.
Two more banks are to merge soon with Cosmos as we have already received RBI nod, informed Dr Abhyankar. One of them is in Maharashtra while the second one is in Gujarat, he added.
Orissa government sources say the beleaguered Urban cooperative bank of Bhubaneshwar decided to merge with the Pune based Cosmos Cooperative bank as it had been weighed down with losses, bad loans and redundant staff.
It bears mention the Orissa govt’s earlier effort to bail the bank out had come to grief.
Dr Abhyankar said deposits of thousands of investors and legitimate interests of the other stakeholders would be fully protected.
Experts say Cosmos bank being a multi-state bank with a solid background, the urban cooperative bank of Bhubaneshwar could profit from this merger.