Anyonya Co-operative Bank Ltd (ACBL) that is facing financial crisis sacked 46 employees

Anyonya sacks 46 employees
 12 February 2010,



VADODARA: Asia's oldest co-operative bank, Anyonya Co-operative Bank Ltd (ACBL)
that is facing financial crisis sacked 46 employees after paying

them all the legal dues on Thursday. The management took this extreme
step to save depositors' money and the bank from going into liquidation.
The staff strength of ACBL was 109 till Thursday which means the bank
removed about 40 per cent of its staff.

The stern action has come in the backdrop of ACBL's failed
 merger process with Mumbai-based Saraswat Co-operative Bank
 Ltd (SCBL) some days ago. TOI had reported on February 4 that
ACBL was planning to sack its employees after the merger process
got derailed.

SCBL had agreed to carry out merger with ACBL two years ago and
 all the procedures were on the verge of completion.

However, members of the Co-operative Banks Union shot
off a letter to SCBL top management that they were not
 in favour of some merger provisions that required
employees to be sacked.

"We had no option but to terminate the employees as
we have to save the bank and the money of the depositors.
This way, we will be able to save lot of money every month.
 Certain elements in the staff and the union for their vested
interests are trying to disrupt all the activities we were doing
for betterment of the bank. And, such activities cannot be tolerated,"
 said ACBL president Dilip Kelkar.

"We have relieved all of them from their duties with effect from
Thursday after paying off all the legal dues. Some of the employees
haven't still accepted the termination letters," Kelkar added.

ACBL and SCBL were all set to merge this year, but the latter
had kept a condition that it will only pick up 25 ACBL employees.
 The employees' union faxed a letter to SCBL on January 30
that it was against this provision which apparently upset
the management. SCBL immediately called off the merger process
and even notified Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about it.

The incident left ACBL management fuming and hence it decided to
 sack its employees. Now with the staff reduced, ACBL will save
almost Rs 54 lakh annually. ACBL has managed to recover dues
worth Rs 8.84 crore in 2008-09, but its current non-performing
assets (NPAs) still amount to a staggering Rs 26 crore.