THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The banking sector in Kerala might soon have a new giant player with a total deposit of Rs 58,000 crore as the proposal to form a Kerala Cooperative Bank by merging the state cooperative bank and 14 district cooperative banks is gaining momentum.

The government has formed a committee to conduct a SWOT analysis incorporating the assets and liabilities of the 15 banks - the SCB and 14 DCBs. Cooperation Minister A C Moideen said the committee has three months to submit the report, covering all legal and technical aspects of forming a new bank. The expert committee, headed by Bangalore IIM professor M S Sreeram, has been asked to suggest procedures to get approvals of RBI and NABARD for the merger. It should also make recommendations for necessary amendments in the Kerala Cooperative Act, rules and by-laws of the acquiring banks and their member societies. Member societies of DCBs include primary agricultural credit cooperative societies and cooperatives with a combined deposit of over Rs 1 lakh cr.

The members of committee include Additional Chief Secretary V S Senthil, Cooperation Special Secretary P Venugopal, former GM of NABARD C P Mohan and former GM of Union Bank T P Balakrishnan.