The Hindu : Karnataka News : Bank staff protest merger move

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Friday, Sep 28, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Bank staff protest merger move

Staff Reporter

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

PROTEST: Members of State Bank of Mysore Employees’ Union demonstrating in Bangalore on Thursday.

BANGALORE: With the threat of merger with big brother State Bank of India (SBI) looming, thousands of employees of the State Bank of Mysore (SBM), one of the oldest banks in the country whose headquarters is in Bangalore, resorted to a nationwide agitation on Thursday.

SBI had recently proposed to take under its fold all its seven associate banks — State Banks of Bikaner and Jaipur; Hyderabad; Indore; Mysore; Patiala; Saurashtra and Travancore — to come out as the largest bank in the country.

The State Bank of Mysore Employees’ Union however termed the decision as a pure business tactic aimed at acquiring the large network of branches, huge assets and clientele possessed by the associate banks. The “service-oriented” approach being primarily followed by the associate banks is set to be taken over by “profit-oriented” functioning of the parent bank, the Union alleged.

Union President V. Manjunath told The Hindu that like SBM, all other associate banks have a distinct history and close rapport with their customers. SBM was established in 1913 as Bank of Mysore Ltd. under the patronage of the then Mysore Maharaja Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar at the instance of the banking committee headed by Sir M. Visvesvaraya. Subsequently, in March 1960, the bank became an associate of SBI.

When the Subsidiary Banks Act was being passed in the Parliament, Mr. Manjunath noted, an assurance was given to protect the regional character and identity of associate banks. How could the SBI Chairman now overlook a Parliamentary proceeding and go ahead with merger, he sought to know. SBI Board has already passed a resolution to merge the Saurashtra Bank and has sent it for government approval.

Part of life

With a widespread network of 644 branches and 20 extension counters, SBM has become a part of life for people in Karnataka. When no other bank lent to agriculture, small scale industries and small business, SBM came to their rescue and has been lending to these priority sectors, Mr. Manjunath said. The 9,630 workforce comprises 2,298 supervisory staff and 6,632 non-supervisory staff. Since its inception, the bank has been declaring dividends and during 2006-07, it posted a profit of Rs. 728.4 million.

Apart from the fear of a shift in business priorities, employees are also wary of discriminatory treatment, downsizing and reduced promotional opportunities. Mr. Manjunath said when SBI recently held a meeting of managing directors of associate banks, two of the seven MDs were not even invited to the meeting just because they were not from the SBI hierarchy.

Moreover, SBI would resort to downsizing of branches as branches of SBI and associate banks co-exist at several places. This, Mr. Manjunath said, would result in inconvenience to customers as well as reduction in quality of service. Presently, the associate banks have a network of 4,596 fully computerised branches and 1,070 ATMs networked with SBI ATMs.

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