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Pune Jan. 23 With the acquisition of two Ahmedabad-based banks - Unatti Co-operative Bank and the Bank of Ahmedabad - the Pune-headquartered Cosmos Co-operative Bank is all set to include the profit-making Manasa Co-operative Bank of Hyderabad into its fold.

Talking to presspersons, Dr Mukund L. Abhyankar, Chairman, Cosmos Co-operative Bank, said the merger would be effective from April this year. He said two more proposals were received from the Gujarat-based Ankaleshwar Taluka Mahila Bank and Ahmedabad-based Naroda Industrial Co-operative Bank. Dr Abhyankar said the bank had also received the authorised dealer licence from the Reserve Bank of India for undertaking foreign exchange business. The authorised dealer licence was granted on January 18, this year, he said.

Forex dept

The bank is also setting up its own foreign exchange department in Mumbai, which already has a fully computerised treasury and investment cell. The centre is expected to be fully operational by April. Dr Abhyankar said the Gujarat Government had issued a circular permitting co-operative institutions in State todeposit their surplus funds with any of the nine banks. Out of these, two are nationalised banks, three are joint stock commercial banks, three private banks and one urban cooperative bank, Cosmos.

He noted that Cosmos had a strong presence in the Gujarat market as it has in its kitty two UCBs, one having 16 branches in Ahmedabad and the other having six branches in Vadodara. He said in the Gujarat region, the bank has garnered new deposits to the tune of Rs 11 crore and new loans of Rs 30 crore.

Commenting on the branch network, he said the bank has 69 branches and about 27 of them have been added by way of acquisition.

The bank, following the RBI rules, is also in the process of upgrading its extension counters as bank branches. It has 14 extension counters of which five would be upgraded, he said.

Dr Abhyankar noted that as part of its 101st anniversary, the bank had introduced a new scheme `Cosmo Vrudhi'; by offering nine per cent interest to the general public and 9.5 per cent to senior citizens as maximum rate of interest on their deposits.

More Stories on : Mergers & Acquisitions | Co-operatives | Maharashtra

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