Union Bank of India Under Scrutiny for Spending Rs 7.25 Crore Buying K.V. Subramanian's Book

New Delhi: The Union Bank of India, a public sector lender, is embroiled in a controversy for deciding to pre-order nearly two lakh copies of former chief economic advisor K.V. Subramanian's book, India@100. The bank spent a whopping Rs 7.25 crore on the order, and claimed that the book was meant for distributing to "customers/local schools/colleges/library, etc."

After serving as the chief economic advisor, Subramanian was made India's nominee executive director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, he was called back to India by the government six months before the end of his term. One of the reasons for his termination was that concerns were flagged over an “alleged impropriety” on the promotion of India@100, The Indian Express reported. In addition, he was said to have violated “internal IMF protocols".

According to the Economic Times, this decision was taken and communicated to its 18 zonal heads in June and July 2024, before the book was published in August 2024. The bank's support services department at its central office wrote to the zonal heads to say that "top management" had made the decision to buy and distribute both hard and soft cover copies of the book across the country.

The letters quoted by ET say 189,450 paperback copies (10,525 copies each by 18 zonal offices) were purchased at Rs 350 each, as well as 10,422 hardback copies at Rs 597 each. The total amount spent on buying the book was Rs 7.25 crore.

When this letter was sent, publisher Rupa Publications had already been send 50% of the total amount, according to the newspaper. "The office advice said the remainder of the payment should be made by the respective regional offices through "revenue budget available under 'miscellaneous' head"," ET reports.

This 50% advance was brought up at the lender's December board meeting, and executive director Nitesh Ranjan – who also oversees marketing and publicity – refused to ratify the charge as he said he was never informed about it. Union Bank managing director and chief executive A. Manimekhalai later claimed that she had asked Girija Mishra, the general manager overseeing the support services department, to make this purchase but not to break any rules. Mishra was later suspended, with employee unions saying he was made a scapegoat, according to ET.

In January this year, the Union Bank hired consultancy firm KPMG to look into this matter. ET reports that it's unclear what recommendations KPMG made, and whether the bank has taken any further steps.

Bank employees unions have criticised the book purchase and Mishra's suspension. With the news item of alleged impropriety over promotion of the book purchased by the bank... it has become the responsibility of the bank to ascertain how far the authority who has approved the expenditure for purchase of books has colluded in promoting the alleged impropriety to damage the bank and its image," N. Shankar, general secretary of the All India Union Bank Employees' Association, said in a letter to Manimekhalai.

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