THIRUVANANTHPURAM: Two independent directors of the State Bank of Travancore (SBT) on Thursday claimed that standard procedures were not being followed in its merger with State Bank of India. "They (their managements) should come out with facts and figures and convince the general public and stakeholders that the merger of SBT with SBI is beneficial to all," director Sajen Peter told reporters. He was here along with another director MC Jacob.
They said that the memorandum recommending approval of SBT board to enter into acquisition negotiations with SBI was presented as a "table item" in an urgently convened board meeting in Mumbai on May 17. "The memorandum said the acquisition was beneficial to customers, employees and other stakeholders. But there was no supporting analysis, data or details," they said. "Data on working results after the merger of State Bank of Saurashtra and State Bank of Indore were not made available. Though the state government is an important stakeholder, its opinion was not sought." Kerala assembly had recently passed a resolution against the merger.
"During the board meeting, it was suggested that the threshold for shareholders to raise their grievances to be brought down to 0.5 percent from the current proposed level of 1 percent so that the government of Kerala can have recourse to the grievances committee. This was also not acceded to, in the board meeting,” they said. SBI holds 79 percent of the SBT, which has a market share of 23 percent of deposits and 18 percent of advances in Kerala. It deals with 30 percent of NRI business in the state.
