The column “Cricket, culture and PSU bank merger” by Tamal Bandyopadhyay (September 23) was a nice narrative of how Bank of Baroda (BoB) is inching towards formalising the merger with Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank. As rightly said by the writer, the merger process at BoB could serve as a template for other public sector banks which will soon begin the process of transformation.
The meticulousness with which the writer explained the step by step process adopted by BoB in bringing about the merger was worth a read. He didn’t miss enumerating the benefits from this merger. However, it is the cost involved in formalising this merger that seems to be missing. Hiring outside consultants and paying hefty fees for suggesting ways and means to create and market a new brand, from ensuring on-boarding on a single CBS platform to imparting training to a huge number of employees -- the costs involved need to be analysed. Undoubtedly, this merger is going to create a case study for the students of management and banking professionals, as unlike mergers of banks that took place earlier, this merger was of a different kind and of a larger scale also.