“Amalgamation of Vijaya Bank with Bank of Baroda and Dena Bank will hurt the sentiments of the people of Karnataka,” said Ivan D’Souza, Member, Karnataka Legislative Council.
While demanding the Union government to abandon the proposal to amalgamate these banks, D’Souza said: “The Central government is only doing it to help capitalists by merging profit-making Vijaya Bank with two loss-making ones.”
He further said Vijaya Bank has more number of branches in rural areas and a strong focus on lending to the agri sector. It has also been helping many empowerment programmes in rural areas.
Talking about the sentiments attached to Vijaya Bank, D’Souza said: “The bank was started by people from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts in Karnataka. Closure will hurt people from the State, more so from the coastal districts. It has major operations in the twin districts, where 583 of the 2,129 branches were located. Even though the bank is headquartered in Bengaluru, it had not lost its focus on agriculture lending.” The All India Bank Officers’ Confederation has opposed the merger, saying the Central government is defying all norms. This move is not only detrimental to the Indian banking industry, but also harmful to the interests of the common man.