The Maharashtra Government under Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is exploring the possibility of merging the scam-tainted Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC) with another bank, the various departments in State Government including Finance and Cooperation have become active, looking at various lifelines for the beleaguered bank.

Read more: ED attaches assets worth ₹3,830 cr in PMC Bank fraud case

Senior State Government officials said that the political dispensation does not want to displease the powerful and dynamic Sikh community, which has a large number of depositors in the bank. In the past, Bank of Karad , a privately held lender in Maharashtra, was merged with Bank of India after the 1991-92 stock market scam. The PMC has better assets and service; therefore, the scrutiny work is underway. However, the final call on the merger would be taken by the RBI and the Finance Ministry, the officials clarified.

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Fadnavis, while interacting with media persons on Saturday evening, had said that the money of account-holders would remain safe. The task of reviving the PMC was with the RBI. The Maharashtra government could only facilitate the merger.

He said that on the PMC issue he had already spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The matter would be again taken on the anvil after the State Assembly polling was over.

The PMC scam of ₹4,355 crore scam has been attributed to bad loans given to construction company HDIL. The massive exposure to HDIL was hidden from RBI auditors.

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