PSB mergers: Arun Jaitley to head panel to monitor consolidation

Financial Express, FE Bureau, October 31, 2017

A panel of ministers under finance minister Arun Jaitley will monitor consolidation in the public-sector banking space.

he government on Monday formed a panel of ministers under finance minister Arun Jaitleyto monitor consolidation in the public-sector banking space. In a tweet, financial services secretary Rajeev Kumar said: “Govt walks the talk on banking reforms; constitutes Alternative Mechanism for PSBs consolidation; Finance Minister to head.” The panel also includes defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and railway and coal minister Piyush Goyal. The Cabinet had in August approved the “alternative mechanism” to oversee the merger of public-sector banks (PSBs). Jaitley had said the proposals for amalgamation would come from the boards of the relevant PSBs and any merger would be based on commercial considerations.

Last week, the government announced the ambitious `2.11-lakh crore recapitalisation plan for the PSBs and said complementary reforms will follow. Although the government’s immediate priority is capital infusion, it wants to put in place adequate mechanism to carry forwards its intended reforms, especially consolidation, at an appropriate time. “The immediate priority is recapitalisation, and consolidation and stake dilution will follow,” a senior government official told FE last week.

As for consolidation, official sources had said the level and management of stressed assets would be an important characteristics of the commercial considerations. The merger will be effected through a swap of shares, with no cash transaction involved. The government has made it clear it wants no job losses to take place, and all the employees of the banks to be merged will be retained. No time-frame, however, has been fixed for the amalgamation. The proposed panel mirrors a similar mechanism adopted for strategic divestment of government assets, where a group of ministers, headed by Jaitley, is monitoring the progress. The setting up of the panel is aimed at expediting the process of consolidation, without the requirement of Cabinet approval at every stage.

Reference;


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ED tracks Swiss Bank A/Cs of Agusta scamster

The Poineer February 10,2019 Rakesh K Singh The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has tracked a dozen Swiss bank accounts in the name of Rajiv Saxena, who is key accused in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. The ED has also found out accounts held by  his family members and associates where the kickbacks in the now scrapped deal were allegedly parked. Two bank accounts are in the name of Rajiv Saxena’s  associates Pankaj Jain and Sumita Jain who are also the authorised signatories. The  third is in the name of another associate Ajit Singh Bubber, but Rajiv and his family members are authorised signatories. The remaining nine accounts are largely owned and operated by Rajiv, his family members and associates. Rajiv Saxena was deported by the UAE authorities on January 30 and the ED formally arrested him the next day and a court later granted his remand to the agency. He is currently undergoing custodial interrogation by the ED. The agency had in 2017 arrested his
Read more

J&K Cricket Board Scam: Chargesheet Filed Against Farooq Abdullah, 3 Others By CBI

OUTLOOK July 16, 2018 The agency has levelled charges of criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust under the Ranbir Penal Code against Abdullah and three others. The CBI on Monday filed a chargesheet against former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah and three others in a special court in Srinagar in connection with alleged irregularities and misappropriation of funds in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association. After the fall of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the BJP government, this is the biggest development that has taken place in the state. The National Conference has not reacted to the chargesheet so far. The agency has levelled charges of criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust under the Ranbir Penal Code against Abdullah, the then president of JKCA, Md Saleem Khan - the then general secretary, Ahsan Ahmad Mirza - the then treasuer and Bashir Ahmad Misgar, an executive in the J&K Bank. The BCCI gave Rs 112 crore t
Read more

As financial insecurity rises in urban India, so does investment in insurance

Image
Scroll.in March 13, 2020 Urban Indians are becoming less confident about their financial security. Up to 58% of them fret over financial independence post retirement, which is a 4% increase from last year. An equal share of urban Indians worry about meeting their daily medical expenses and sustaining their current lifestyle once they stop working. The findings are part of a survey published by Delhi-based Max Life Insurance in association with London-based consultancy Kantar. The firms surveyed 7,014 respondents in 25 cities, including six metros, nine tier-1 cities, and 10 tier-2 cities, between December 2019 and January 2020. Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz The trends Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz A significant share of urban Indians also say their families will have no financial support in the event of the breadwinner’s death. In such a scenario, around 57% believe the family sav
Read more