More scrutiny needed

Also, the business media has a responsibility to scrutinise such mergers

T T Ram Mohan’s analysis of IDFC Bank’s merger with non-banking finance company Shriram City Union Finance (SCUF) in his article, “A none too exciting merger” (July 18), brings to the fore some important issues.

First, the IDFC Bank management’s confession that “organic growth is not a realistic option for the bank” puts paid to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) claims of issuing new banking licences for expanding banking services in the country. This, despite the RBI diluting the definition of a bank branch to a banking outlet that can even be exclusively operated by business correspondents/banking agents.

Second, if we