Hyderabad, Dec 26 (FN Representative) Hours after the Board of RBL Bank had approved the request of its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Vishwavir Ahuja to “proceed on leave with immediate effect”, All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) has urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to immediately intervene in the matter and take necessary steps to merge the bank with a Public Sector Bank (PSB). ‘In the background of the problems encountered by private Banks like Yes Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank last year, we urge upon the Finance Minister to immediately intervene in the matter in the interest of the Depositors of this Private sector Bank and take necessary steps including merger of this Bank with a Public Sector Bank (PSB)’.
‘We are worried and concerned about the developments that are taking place in the affairs of RBL Bank Limited’, AIBEA General Secretary Ch Venkatachalam said in a letter to Ms Sitharaman, a copy of which was e-mailed to UNI late on Saturday night. He said RBL Bank has informed the Stock Exchange that it has appointed Mr. Rajeev Ahuja, Current Executive Director, as the interim MD and CEO with immediate effect. Simultaneously, Reserve Bank of India has appointed its Chief General Manager Mr. Yogesh Dayal as an Additional Director on the Board of RBL Limited. Mr Venkatachalam said Mr. Vishwavir Ahuja has been heading this Bank since last one decade.
While the Board recommended his continuation, it is learnt that RBI has agreed only for a short term up to 2022. The sequence of events leading to the sudden exit of Mr. Vishwavir Ahuja along with the induction of Mr. Dayal from RBI on the Board as additional member indicates that everything is not alright with the Bank, he said. It is observed that the total advances of this Bank have doubled during the last few years. From about Rs. 29,000 crore of advances in 2017, it had crossed Rs. 58,000 crore at present. There are also reports that the Bank has been over indulging in retail credit, micro-financing and credit cards and consequently has burnt its finger resulting in weakening the financials of the Bank, he added.