The Hindu Business Line : Sharp differences over merger

THE Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of India, Mr M. Balachandran, and a director of the bank, Mr V. Easwaran, disagreed with each other on the issue of consolidation in the banking industry.

At a press conference of Bank of India, Mr Balachandran replied to a question on the merger of banks, saying that the bank was "exploring all possibilities of merging with or acquiring any public sector or private sector bank." (A proposal for a merger of Bank of India and Union Bank of India has been under consideration for some time now.)

Mr Easwaran, who is also the General Secretary of the Federation of Bank of India Officers' Associations, and represents the officers on the board, was asked if he favoured BoI merging with another bank. He replied that the board would collectively decide on that.

When pressed for his own opinion, Mr Easwaran said, "My opinion is that of my organisation's." Asked what it was, he said, "We are against mergers."

When pointed out that the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, had gone on record saying that individual bank unions had agreed to mergers among public sector banks, and only the central unions (such as All India Bank Officers' Confederation and All India Bank Employees Association) had to be convinced, both Mr Easwaran and Mr Balachandran said "this is not the forum to talk about it."

However, later in an informal chat, Mr Easwaran denied that individual bank unions had agreed to mergers. He said that the All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC— of which Mr Easwaran is the Vice-President) would issue a statement denying that bank unions had agreed to mergers.

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