Reacting to the news about Goa based Mapusa Urban Cooperative Bank’s (MUCB) merger with Maharashtra based Punjab and Maharashtra Bank, CEO of PMC Bank, K Joy Thomas confirmed the development but felt that the large number of manpower associated with the Mapusa Urban Cooperative Bank needs to be pruned before the formal merger takes place.
“We have asked MUCB to cut down its staff liability which is becoming a big hurdle in completing the merger process”, said Thomas talking to Indian Cooperative.
“Due diligence has been completed but the higher staff salary structure of the bank is delaying the process of merger. We have asked the bank to cut down its staff liability from Rs 90 crore to Rs 30 crore”, Thomas added.
Readers would recall that the board of directors of the beleaguered Mapusa Urban Cooperative Bank recently gave their approval for the merger with PMC Bank.
Thomas said, the bank has put several conditions before MUCB, if they accept then only are we ready to take over the bank.
According to media reports, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) first imposed financial sanctions on Mapusa Urban on July 24, 2015, and has periodically extended the curbs by six months. It had initially prevented customers from withdrawing over Rs 1,000, but from February, it allowed the bank’s customers to withdraw up to Rs 50,000 over a six-month period.
Earlier, Mapusa Urban Cooperative Bank of Goa had approached the state government for financial help as the business restrictions imposed on the bank by RBI had greatly compromised its financial position.
Besides, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had worked hard during the last month to resolve the crisis. He has had several meetings with various groups during the last month, said MUCB Director Ramakant Khalap, according to TOI report.
PMC Bank is having 137 branches across 7 states and alone 6 branches are in Goa state.
Mapusa Urban Cooperative Bank has a network of over 24 branches and one Extension Counter covering the entire State of Goa.