After the merger of North Bihar Gramin Bank and South Bihar Gramin Bank, the IPO of Bihar Gramin Bank is about to come. The Finance Ministry has given instructions to issue IPO, in protest against which the rural bank unions have warned of a nationwide agitation. The government wants to raise capital by selling up to 36 percent of its shares in the bank, which is being seen as privatization.
Gramin Bank: After the merger of North Bihar Gramin Bank and South Bihar Gramin Bank, the only Gramin Bank (Bihar Gramin) is providing services in Bihar from May 1. Now its IPO will come.
In fact, one of the major objectives of the merger of the Gramin Banks was to bring IPO. Dainik Jagran had also clarified this in December last year.
However, the Finance Ministry has issued instructions to all the sponsor banks to issue IPO. Calling it a process of privatization, the Gramin Bank Unions have warned of a nationwide movement.
The Government of India has 50 percent share in the Gramin Bank, the sponsor bank has 35 percent and the state government has 15 percent share.
The Government of India wants to raise capital from the market by disinvesting up to 36 percent of its shares. For this, it was trying since 2015, but due to the relatively weak financial condition of the Gramin Banks, the IPO could not be issued till now.
Now after the merger, there is one Gramin Bank in each state and their base capital has become eligible to issue IPO.
Meeting and strategy
A joint meeting of the unions of North Bihar Gramin Bank and South Bihar Gramin Bank was held on Sunday. Inaugurating it, General Secretary of United Forum of Gramin Bank Unions DN Trivedi said that the government wants to privatize the Gramin Bank by issuing IPO. This will be countered at the national level.
The joint meeting was attended by Bihar Provincial Bank Employees Association General Secretary Anirudh Kumar, AIBOA National Vice President Kumar Arvind, Mohd. Nadeem Akhtar, Neeraj Chaudhary, Rajiv Prakash and Kundan Kumar Rai addressed. Pradeep Kumar Mishra and Brahmeshwar Kumar presided over the function.
