For CA Manoharan, LVB assignment was the shortest – 9 days

By Venkatachari Jagannathan

Chennai, Nov 25 (SocialNews.XYZ) For 64-year-old chartered accountant, law graduate and Padma Shri awardee T.N. Manoharan, the assignment as the administrator of the beleaguered Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) was the shortest.

Manoharan was appointed as the administrator for LVB on November 17 and his assignment gets over on Thursday, as the Central government has notified the amalgamation of the 94-year old LVB with DBS Bank India Ltd, a subsidiary of DBS Bank, Singapore.

Manoharan, son of freedom fighter T.L. Narayanasamy Chowdhry, became a chartered accountant in 1983 after completing law and post-graduation in commerce.

He was appointed by the government of India as one of the six board members of the scandal hit Satyam Computers in 2009 for restructuring the company.

Manoharan was also appointed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on the board of Sahara to refund about Rs 21,000 crore to the depositors.

"The Satyam Computers assignment went on for 100 days and the Sahara group assignment went on for three years. I was also the Executive Chairman of Canara Bank for five years. But the LVB assignment is the shortest - just nine days," Manoharan told IANS.

Hailing from a small Tamil Nadu village, Raja Koil, near Gudiyatham in Vellore district, the former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) said the focus in the LVB assignment is protection of the depositors.

"The LVB has Rs 20,000 crore deposits spread over 20 lakh depositors," he said.

The LVB was put under moratorium on November 17 with withdrawal of deposits capped at Rs 25,000 and up to Rs 5 lakh in case of certain emergencies.

"Earlier, the power to sanction withdrawal above Rs 25,000 was with the RBI. The RBI at our request deligated that power to a three-member committee formed by me to reduce the depositors' woes," Manoharan said.

"As a result, a total of 690 depositors withdrew a sum of Rs 19.30 crore between November 18 and November 25 under emergency needs. As regards deposit withdrawals subject to the cap of Rs 25,000, a total of 150,368 depositors withdrew Rs 240.89 crore," said Manoharan, who takes up these assignments on pro-bono basis.

"I had taken a decision that I would earn from the profession only till the age of 50 years and after that I will give back to the profession and the society. As a result, the Satyam Computers assignment was for free. I was paid sitting fees for the Sahara group and Canara Bank assignments and the sum was utilised to help poor students," Manoharan said.

He was also a member of the K.V. Kamath Committee for recommending measures for restructuring of loans impacted by Covid-19 stress.

While the committee has submitted its report, the RBI has said that for restructuring of loans above Rs 1,500 crore, the proposal has to be vetted by the committee.

"Such loan restructuring proposals may come in after January 2021," Manoharan said.

Source: IANS