Vidyadhar Anaskar, Chairman of MSCB’s administrative board, who earlier confirmed that the proposal for merger of Rupee Bank with the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank MSCB has been submitted to RBI, is still awaiting a response from the RBI.
Talking to Indian Cooperative Sunday morning, the veteran co-operator who is credited with reviving the ailing MSCB said “it’s better to ask RBI than me regarding the merger proposal sent by MSCB.”
“I believe RBI is examining the case. They asked us to submit the financial position of Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank and we did send them our financial details till March 31”, said Anaskar who is also on the board of NAFCUB and is its Vice-President.
Earlier, Maharashtra govt along with the management of MSCB had approached the RBI for considering a proposal of merger. The then BJP govt had made a serious move to resolve the issue and help lakhs of helpless depositors.
Amidst uncertainty, the RBI has, meanwhile extended the Direction on the UCB for a further period of three months from June 01, 2020 to August 31, 2020. The short duration of 3 months, many experts say, hints at a fact that a permanent solution may be round the corner. RBI on its part is, however tight-lipped on the merger proposal.
In the notification released a couple of days ago, RBI says all other terms and conditions of the Directives under reference shall remain unchanged. The Pune based UCB was placed under directions from close of business on February 22, 2013. The validity of the directions was extended from time to time.
Indian Cooperative has learnt that the proposal of merger of Rupee Bank with MSCB is gathering dust in the RBI corridors for close to a year now. Though RBI does give extension to the UCB again and again, it is yet to take a call on its merger.
It is to be noted that MSC Bank has already carried out the due diligence. The top official sources of MSC Bank said, “So far we have not received the approval from the apex bank RBI to takeover Rupee Bank and the matter still is under consideration”.
The Bank has paid Rs 332 crore to Rs 83,777 needy depositors under the hardship scheme of RBI. The Bank is having deposits of Rs 1,297 crore,” a release from the UCB sent earlier read.
More than 6 lakh depositors are associated with the Rupee Bank.