The Hindu Business Line : General insurance unions for merger

In the banking industry, the Finance Minister wants consolidation among public sector banks and has been championing the cause at every forum - but the unions are opposed to it.

The situation is the reverse in the case of the general insurance industry. The unions want a merger badly - but the Finance Minister does not seem in favour of it - or so the unions think. They say their past appeals in this regard have been ignored.

Insurance unions are urging the Finance Minister and the management of the four public sector general insurance companies to consider the issue of merger when they meet for a performance review at New Delhi on Wednesday.

Mr J. Gurumurthy, Secretary, Standing Committee, All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA) said, the onset of the de-tariffed regime had now created a situation where the public sector companies would be competing with each other and lose market share to the private sector.

Mr N.D. Sundaresan, General Secretary, General Insurance Employees All-India Association (GIEAIA), said, "We are appealing to the management to consider this issue and not miss out on the opportunity to create a single corporation."

Asked if merger would not mean loss of jobs, union leaders said that there had already been a reduction in staff numbers following the introduction of VRS.

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