Though consolidation of public sector banks is a must, the exercise of merger is not simple as it involves too many factors, said Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank of India Rajkiran Rai G. here on Saturday.
Asked about merger of Union Bank of India with other banks, Mr. Rai told reporters that he cannot say much as it was a policy and a committee of the Union government was looking into the issue. “We are looking at various possibilities,” he said. Mr. Rai said it can be merger of two large banks or mid-sized banks going with a large bank. Merger of banks was not a simple exercise as there are several factors and each bank has a character of its own. But consolidation of banks, Mr. Rai said, was a must as there cannot be many operating in the same space.
With a growth rate of 10%, Mr. Rai said the Union Bank of India was doing well among the public sector banks. As on June 2017, the bank has a business mix of ₹6,70,971 crore of which ₹3,75,796 crore was from deposits and ₹2,95,175 crore towards advance. Mr. Rai said gross non-performing assets at 12.5% of the total advances was not very bad situation for the bank. Teams have been formed for recovery of NPAs. The bank has created “Union Recovery App” to facilitate recovery. Of the total NPA of ₹37,000 crore, recovery target of ₹4,000 crore has been fixed for this financial year, he said.
Among the initiatives to promote cashless transactions, Mr. Rai said the bank was going in a big way in use of Aadhaar-enabled payment machines. Tenders have been floated to procure 1.5 lakh machines, he said.
