January 3, 2019
Manish Gupta speaks on the issue of merger of public sector banks
FULL TRANSCRIPT
The Government of India had announced on September 17, 2018 a plan for merger of the public sector banks. The main issue here is that this matter should have been brought to Parliament as the Parliament is in session.
This is such a serious issue because it involves the employment of 90,000 personnel, they will be closing down 1,800-1,900 bank branches and this will result in stoppage of tariff flow to the farmers, an issue which is very dear to our hearts now; farmers, women, SHGs, small scale industries, the whole.
The problem is that this particular issue needs more attention because all these banks have NPAs. Other banks also have NPAs. How will a merger reduce the NPAs? The other issue is that the banks operate on different IT platforms. Merging of these platforms is going to be a problem.
So, the main issue here is that we need to look at this case more seriously and not to rush into anything. You have noticed in many other cases that the Central Government has a tendency to suddenly decide upon a certain issue or notice and pass a Cabinet resolution.
I would urge the Government, through you, that the entire matter should be looked at anew and not to force the issue at this stage. Thank you.
