No purpose in making MTNL a BSNL subsidiary

14th March 2005: Ahead of a crucial meeting of DoT with the two PSUs to decide on the next step towards synergise their operations, MTNL on Monday said that making it a subsidiary of BSNL will not yield the desired result behind the proposed move. ICICI Securities, which submitted its first report to DoT last month, is believed to have suggested making MTNL a subsidiary of BSNL with the former retaining an independent Board.

“This suggestion does not give any benefit or result, which was visualised in case of merger as these two companies will remain separate entities and will have to maintain an arm's length distance," MTNL CMD R S P Sinha said. "This is because MTNL is a listed company at domestic bourses as well at New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)," he added. Sinha also said that MTNL and BSNL are complementing each other's operations. "We are not competing with each other", he said.

ICICI Securities has short-listed four options for the proposed process, according to the first report of the bankers. The options are merger of two PSUs or making one a subsidiary of the other based on a 5-point criteria -- competitive position, shareholder value, cost implication, execution difficulties, including where the funds will come from and time period. DoT has convened a meeting of all the stakeholders and the consultant on March 21 to discuss the future course of action on basis of options given by the consultant.

Centre begins talks with seven states on merger of rural banks

12th March 2005: The government has kicked off the merger exercise of the rural regional banks (RRBs). The finance ministry has initiated talks with seven states including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan for merging the regional rural banks of these states. First, the government would merge the weak RRBs. “We want to complete the merger process of the RRBs in these states, in the first phase. We will then look at merging the RRBs of the other states,” a senior finance minister official said. He said the government would carry on the entire merger exercise in phases. The government would also conduct a detailed study on RRBs, before deciding on their merger.

Shamrao Vithal Co-op Bank speeds up for acquisitions

12th March 2005: Shamrao Vithal Co-operative Bank, the country’s second largest co-operative bank in terms of business, is pursuing at least three small healthy co-operative banks for acquisitions. These are Shriram Co-operative Bank in Nasik, having around 6-7 branches, Sauhadra Bank in Bangalore, having 11-12 branches and Mumbai-based Samasta Co-operative Bank with 8-10 branches. This comes in the wake of the bank withdrawing its application for acquiring the Maratha Mandir Co-operative Bank, South Indian Co-operative Bank and Nasik People’s Co-operative Bank.

According to Deepak Patil, the bank’s chief executive officer, “We are planning to acquire smaller banks having about 7-12 branches, but which are healthy or only slightly troubled, as we do not want to put a strain on our balance sheets.” However, even as he admitted that the bank was currently scouting for new targets, he refused to divulge any names. The bank has backed out from the proposal to acquire three beleaguered banks, as it does not want to take on their significant non-performing assets into its balance sheet.