BharatPe reveals plan to bid for PMC Bank

Amid ongoing speculation over the acquisition of Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank, digital payments platform BharatPe has reportedly confirmed that it is looking to buy the crisis-hit cooperative lender.

BharatPe has revealed its plan to acquire the PMC Bank in an interview to CNBC-TV18. On January 16, BharatPe and financial services firm Centrum had jointly submitted a bid to acquire PMC Bank.

In the joint bid for PMC Bank, BharatPe and Centrum could pay back 100 percent to retail depositors looking to withdraw money from the beleaguered urban cooperative lender.

Last week, Centrum Chairman Jaspal Bindra had reportedly said that the group was evaluating the challenge in the financials of the bank and capital requirements if it were to make a formal bid.

As many as four groups, including BharatPe and Centrum Group, have made the submissions to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the acquisition of PMC Bank. Among others, steel baron Sanjeev Gupta's Liberty House Group is one of the three other groups that have submitted EoIs to the RBI for acquiring. The names of the other bidders are not known yet. Last date for submission of EoIs was December 15, 2020.

Last year in November, PMC Bank had invited EoIs from external investors for its reconstruction, which has been under RBI moratorium since September 23, 2019. The exercise is meant to find equity investors willing to take over its management in order to revive the beleaguered lender and resume its day-to-day operations. The central bank has said that the PMC Bank will examine viability and feasibility of these proposals, considering the best interest of the depositors, which would take some more time.

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