Bank Of Maharashtra Employees Say Big No To Privatisation; Claims Customers Scared Of Private Banks

The employee union of Bank of Maharashtra (BoM), in the backdrop of the problems that two private sector banks – YES Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank and a host of urban co-operative banks (UCBs) faced in the recent past, wants the government to maintain public sector character of the bank.

Devidas Tuljapurkar, General Secretary, All India Bank of Maharashtra Employees Federation (AIBoMEF) said that particularly after the YES Bank episode, customers are apprehensive of private sector banks. Also that Co-operative Bank customers have suffered a lot in the states of Punjab & Maharashtra.

License Cancellations by RBI

From the UCB sector, RBI has cancelled the licence of The Karad Janata Sahakari Bank (Karad) and from the private sector has cancelled the licence of Subhadra Local Area Bank (Kolhapur).

Steps in order to repose the confidence of stakeholders in in the banking system must have been initiated by the RBI and government, he added.

According to Tuljapurkar, the announcement of privatization of two public sector banks in FY22 by government has created confusion in the minds of customers and also triggered speculation.

Maintain The Public Sector Character : Unions

The privatization of Bank of Maharashtra (BoM), Central Bank of India (CBoI), Bank of India (BoI) and Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) is being weighed by the government, according to the reports. Out of these four banks, government may zero-in on two.

Tuljapurkar said that the Bank of Maharashtra is identified with the common man. With strong financials, it has shown extraordinary performance. In order to pursue the government to to maintain its public sector character, the employee unions in the bank are proactive and will continue their efforts.