Moneycontrol NewsIn a free-wheeling interview with Economic Times Axis Bank CEO Shikha Sharma said a marriage isn’t on the cards. She was responding to market speculation that a a bunch of suitors have come calling. Axis Bank doesn’t need a merger in order to grow, she said, explaining how the bank hasn’t been approached by anyone so far.
“We haven’t been approached by anybody, and frankly for Axis at this point in time, there is so much to do,” she told the newspaper.
Last week Kotak Mahindra Bank was learned to have approached the government seeking a merger with country's third largest private sector lender Axis Bank, sources have told CNBC-TV18. They add that the move has sparked an interest from other industry players, including HDFC Bank,HDFC, ICICI Bank and IndusInd, who have all approached the government informally expressing an interest in picking up stake in Axis.
Sharma was skeptical of mergers when they are undertaken for a transaction value. Only from the point of view of a synergy, do mergers work, she said. “We think that scale for the sake of scale to take out costs is not the thesis that is right for us at this point in time.”
Asked whether she was open to another term as bank chief in 2018, she said it was up to the board to decide her fate.
She admitted that of all the calls the bank took infrastructure was a bet gone awry. Although the bank’s watchlist guidance didn’t play out the way it wanted, Sharma believes it will be prudent to give a range rather than a number in future.
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