Tamil Nadu - Tuticorin   

Bank staff against merger of nationalised banks

Staff Reporter

TUTICORIN: Bank employees will resort to agitations in short notices, if the centre decides to implement merger of various nationalised banks with the objective of going `global', C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary, All India Bank Employees Association, has said.

Speaking to media persons here, he said the merger of banks would not strengthen the financial institutions' pursuit to enter the global trade and fight the multinational banks as envisaged by the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, but rather it would have a cascading effect on domestic development in the long run.

The Finance Ministry should understand that nationalised banks were formed not for venturing into global competitions, but aimed at catering to the needs of the public, especially rural masses, he said.

Mr. Venkatachalam said the Centre should not go ahead with its decision to sell 49 per cent of shares in the nationalised banks to private parties, as it could lead to the dilution of objectives of nationalisation of banks.

So far, only the nationalised banks were found to have been involved in priority sector lending and poverty alleviation, complying with RBI norms, and hence any move to disinvest the shares further would turn the `mass' banking concept into `class' banking concept, thus, benefiting only a certain class of the society, he said.

On Foreign Direct Investment in private banking sector, he said if 74 per cent of FDI was allowed in the private financial institutions, foreign players would have a final say in the daily activities of banks much against the interests of the nation.

Mr. Venkatachalam said bank employees across the country would observe a one-day strike on September 29 to protest "anti-labour and anti-public" sector undertakings' policies of the Centre.

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