Since the last few years, the country’s largest cooperative bank Saraswat cooperative bank has been growing its business through takeovers and acquisitions. The latest in a series of takeovers is its plan to acquire the beleaguered Rupee Cooperative Bank in Pune.
The Saraswat Bank has already annexed about eight urban cooperative banks. Attempt to contact the high-profile Chairman of the Bank Mr Eknath Thakur to know the details of the take-over failed. Mr Thakur is not attending office regularly after the surgery done last year, said a bank official on condition of anonymity.But he hastened to add that Mr Thakur is keeping close watch on the affairs of the cooperative behemoth.
The SCB has 242 branches and 168 ATMs across the country. Its total deposits count Rs 22 thousand crore and loans Rs 14 thousand crore.
Sources say the attractiveness of Rupee Co-operative Bank derives from its wide and determined customer base.
Referring to the 2009 acquisition of the Pune-based co-operative bank (Suvrana Sahakari Bank) by the Indian Overseas Bank , sources say if commercial banks keep taking over co-operative banks, it is likely to have a destabilising effect on the co-operative sector.
There is however, a murmur that the erstwhile customers of some of the taken-over banks are not treated fairly by the Saraswat bank. Several such customers of South India Cooperative bank have flooded the desk of Indian Cooperative with complaints.