City Police Starts Transferring 40k Axis Accounts to HDFC

Mumbai police informed its 40,000 employees on Thursday that their salary accounts would soon be shifted from Axis Bank to HDFC Bank. Mumbai Mirror had reported last December that Axis Bank was going to lose the accounts of the Maharashtra Police, which employs more than two lakh people and has an annual salary of more than 11 billion rupees. Thursday’s development is the first step towards this.

Before Axis Bank, state police payroll accounts were in the State Bank of India But most of them moved to Axis Bank around the time the Devendra Fadnavis-led government came to power.

This sparked a major dispute when Nagpur-based activist Mohnish Jabalpure submitted a request to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last August, claiming that the accounts were changed at the behest of Fadnavis as his wife Amruta Fadnavis is vice president and Corporate Director (West India) of Axis. Bank. This caused a big dispute on Twitter between Amruta Fadnavis and some Shiv Sena leaders in December, shortly after which the government decided to move the state police accounts to another bank.

Amruta Fadnavis, Vice President and Corporate Director (West India) of Axis Bank

The government led by Uddhav Thackeray announced that it would transfer the accounts to a nationalized bank so that the money would be safe. However, the Mumbai police eventually settled on HDFC Bank and on Thursday told its 40,000 employees to keep the necessary documents ready to open a bank account and to expect a visit from bank executives soon.

The Mumbai Police contract with Axis Bank ended on July 31, 2020, after which it invited tenders. Several banks expressed interest and after inspecting the facilities each offered, the department chose HDFC Bank. “We have asked all of our staff to complete the transfer process. HDFC Bank was selected because it offered the best deal, ”said Rajkumar Vhatkar, Deputy Commissioner for Administration of the Mumbai Police.

After the government decided to move the Maharashtra police accounts from Axis Bank last December, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Y Thane Municipal Corporation – who are controlled by Shiv Sena – followed suit. In February, Mirror reported that the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) had also decided to move its fixed rental and deposit accounts, with around 900 million rupees in them, to another bank.