The late Chairman of Saraswat Bank Shri Eknath Thakur fought for being granted commercial licence all through his life but when such opportunity has come knocking at its door, the present management seems to be in two minds. PTI quotes incumbent Chairman S K Sakhalkar as saying it will take a “considered view”.
“This is only a draft report and the final report is yet to come in. Whatever the final report, we will take a considered view on it and take it to the board and then the general body before arriving at a decision,” Saraswat Bank chairman S K Sakhalkar told PTI.
Thakur always felt that there is a limit to growth under the UCB banner and if the Saraswat-the largest UCB in the country has to create a new benchmark it will have to go commercial.
Answering the question if the change would affect the cooperative nature of the Saraswat Bank, Thakur had told this correspondent way back in 2010” Of course it will. Private banks and cooperative banks are two different entities. Here you have members while in the case of a private bank there would be shareholders. But being the Chairman it is my job to apprise our members of the challenges facing us on the growth path. Our members will decide if we have to go private or not.”
However, Sakhalkar says today there is a section of shareholders which supports the move, while there are some who have fears” .
There is also a constituency of opinion which feels that changing the character of the bank to a commercial lender may be a setback to the cooperative sector, which has a good presence in Maharashtra spanning sectors like dairy, sugar and finance.
The Saraswat Bank has 267 branches as of March 2015, in Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Delhi. The bank’s MD S K Banerji was a part of the committee.