Section 38:
Acquisition of business of other banks.
(1) A subsidiary bank may, with the approval of
the State Bank, and shall, if the Reserve Bank, in consultation with the State Bank, so directs, enter
into negotiations for acquiring the business, including the assets and liabilities of any other banking
institution.
(2) The terms and conditions relating to such acquisition, if agreed upon by the Board of Directors
of the subsidiary bank concerned and the directorate or management of the banking institution
concerned and approved by the Reserve Bank, shall be submitted to the Central Government for its
sanction and that Government may by order in writing (hereafter in this section referred to as the
order of sanction) accord its sanction thereto.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or any other law for the time being in force or
any instrument regulating the constitution of the banking institution concerned, the terms and
conditions as sanctioned by the Central Government shall come into effect on the date specified by
the Central Government in this behalf in the order of sanction and be binding upon the subsidiary
bank and the banking institution concerned as well as upon the shareholders (or, as the case may be,
proprietors) and creditors of that banking institution.
(4) If for any reason the terms and conditions cannot come into effect on the date specified in the
order of sanction, the Central Government may fix another suitable date for that purpose.
(5) On the date on which the terms and conditions as aforesaid come into effect, the business and
the assets and liabilities of the banking institution concerned as covered by the acquisition shall, by
virtue, and in accordance with the provisions, of the order of sanction stand transferred to, and
become respectively the business and the assets and liabilities of, the subsidiary bank concerned.
(6) The consideration for the acquisition of the business and the assets and liabilities of any
banking institution under this section may, if so agreed upon, be paid either in cash or by allotment of
shares in the capital of the subsidiary bank concerned or partly in cash and partly by allotment of
shares, and the subsidiary bank may, for the purpose of any such allotment, increase, subject to the
other provisions contained in this Act relating to the increase of capital, the capital of the subsidiary
bank by the issue of such number of shares as may be determined by the subsidiary bank.
(7) Any business acquired under this section shall thereafter be carried on by the subsidiary bank
in accordance with the provisions of this Act subject to such exemptions or modifications as the
Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make in this behalf in consultation
with the Reserve Bank:
Provided that no such exemption or modification shall be made so as to have effect for a period of
more than seven years from the date of acquisition.
(8) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (14 of 1947), or in
any other law or in any agreement for the time being in force, on the acquisition of the business and
the assets and liabilities of any banking institution under this section, no officer or other employee of
that banking institution shall be entitled to any compensation to which he may be entitled under that
Act or that other law or that agreement, and no claim in respect of such compensation shall be
entertained by any court, tribunal or other authority if on his having accepted in writing an offer of
employment by the subsidiary bank concerned on the terms and conditions proposed by it he has been
employed in accordance with such terms and conditions.
(9) The Central Government may, if it consider necessary or expedient in the case of any banking
institution in relation to which an order of sanction has been made under this section, appoint, whether
before or after the coming into effect of the terms and conditions relating to the business and the
assets and liabilities of that banking institution, a suitable person to take over the management of that
banking institution for the purposes of winding up its affairs and distributing its assets, and the
expenditure incurred in connection with such management (including the remuneration of the person
so appointed and his staff, if any) shall be paid out of the assets of the banking institution or by the
subsidiary bank concerned as the Central Government may direct.
(10) Simultaneously with the appointment of a suitable person under sub-section (9) or
immediately thereafter, the Central Government shall issue directions to be followed by that person in
the management of that banking institution for the purposes aforesaid and thereupon--
(a) the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), or the 1
[Banking Regulation Act,
1949 (10 of 1949)], or any other law for the time being in force or any instrument having effect by
virtue of any such Act or law, in so far as they are inconsistent with such directions, shall cease to
apply to, or in relation to, that banking institution;
(b) all persons in charge of the management, including any person holding office as manager
or director, of the banking institution, immediately before the issue of such directions, shall be
deemed to have vacated their offices as such; and
(c) the person appointed to take over the management of the banking institution shall, in
accordance with those directions, take all such steps as may be necessary to facilitate the winding
up of its affairs and the distribution of its assets.
(11) The Central Government, when satisfied that nothing further remains to be done in order to
windup the affairs of the banking institution concerned, may, by order in writing, direct that as from
such date as may be specified therein, the banking institution shall stand dissolved and thereupon any
such direction shall have effect notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other law.
(12) No action under this section shall be questioned on the ground merely of any defect in the
constitution of any banking institution in relation to which such action has been taken or in the
constitution of its Board of Directors or in the appointment of any person entrusted with the
management of its affairs.
(13) The provisions of this section shall apply in relation to the acquisition by one subsidiary bank
of the business, including the assets and liabilities, of another subsidiary bank as they apply in
relation to the acquisition by a subsidiary bank of the business, including the assets and liabilities, of
any other banking institution.
(14) In this section, "banking institution" includes any individual or any association of individuals
(whether incorporated or not, or whether a department of Government or a separate institution),
carring on the business of banking.
Notes:
1. Subs. by Act 30 of 2007, s. 18, for "Banking Companies Act, 1949" (w.e.f. 9-7-2007).