How Saraswat Bank beat the odds?

.......In 2005, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed that weak UCBs be merged with stronger ones. Some UCBs shut shop, and others were merged. According to its 2011/12 annual report, the central bank has received 168 merger proposals since 2005/06, and cleared 125 of them. As of June 2012 there were 1,615 UCBs in the country, of which one-fourth were in Mumbai. Saraswat Bank leads the pack. Between 2006 and 2009, it acquired seven UCBs, which had a total of 87 branches. "We invested Rs 270 crore from our reserves to make their net worth positive," says Thakur. Their business has quadrupled since the acquisition. Most large UCBs have expanded through acquisitions in recent years. Indeed, they had no alternative. "After the Madhavpura scam, RBI did not issue licences for new branches till 2009, so inorganic growth was our only option," says Thakur.

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