Beating all odds Pune-based Rupee Co-operative Bank has earned an operating profit of Rs 19.55 crore in FY20, the bank said in a press release. Sizeable reduction in staff strength, as well as the curtailing of administrative expenses, are said to have helped the debt-ridden Rupee Cooperative Bank to report a profit.
The bank has made total recovery of Rs 15.40 Crores. The bank has total deposits of Rs 1,289.72 crore and loans to the tune of Rs 298.50 crore, with around 5 lakh depositors and 35 branches.
A press release issued by Sudhir Pandit, chairman of the board of administrators, stated that the bank was hopeful of a quick merger with the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank.
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.
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. RBI on its part is, however tight-lipped on the merger proposal.
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.
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”.
More than 6 lakh depositors are associated with the Rupee Bank.