THE LAKSHMI VILAS BANK LIMITED
By P.R. Venkat
India's central bank has proposed to merge Lakshmi Vilas Bank with the Indian unit of Singapore-listed DBS Group Holdings Ltd.
The Reserve Bank of India has placed Lakshmi Vilas Bank under moratorium, saying that the financial position of the bank has undergone a steady decline with the bank incurring continued losses over the last three years.
"Further, the bank is also experiencing continuous withdrawal of deposits and low levels of liquidity," the RBI said late Tuesday while superseding the board of directors of Lakshmi Vilas Bank for a month.
In a separate statement to, DBS said that merger would allow DBS Bank India Ltd. to scale its customer base and network, particularly in South India.
DBS will inject 463 million Singapore dollars (US$344.2 million) into DBS Bank India to support the merger.
Write to P.R. Venkat at venkat.pr@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-17-20 1814ET
