BMC invests only Rs 1 cr in Axis Bank from Rs 6,300 cr investments

The Shiv Sena-controlled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has invested only Rs one crore in fixed deposit with the Axis Bank out of its investments worth Rs 6,300 crore in nine banks in January.

Former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis' wife Amruta Fadnavis holds a senior position at the Axis Bank.

Following a war of words between the Shiv Sena and Amruta Fadnavis, the private sector lender Axis Bank has in the recent past lost some salary accounts of government establishments to other banks.

In January, the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) made 446 fixed deposits of amounts worth Rs one to three crore for a period of 12 to 24 months in nine different public and private sector lenders, including the Axis Bank, according to an official document.

The BMC has invested Rs one crore in the Axis Bank, which has offered an annual interest rate of 6.5 per cent, as per the document presented by the civic administration to the BMC's standing committee.

The document indicates that the FD amount invested by the BMC in the Axis Bank is the lowest among all its investments made in nine banks. The civic body's FD with the Axis Bank will mature in July 2021.

The BMC has deposited Rs five crore in the Municipal Cooperative Bank, which has offered the highest interest rate of 7.5 per annum, as per the document.

The interest rate of 6.5 per cent offered by the Axis Bank is the second highest.

All other banks, including the private lender ICICI, where the BMC has invested Rs 329 crore in FDs, have offered interest at a rate lower than 6.4 per annum, according to the civic body's document.

Notably, in December last year, Thane Mayor Naresh Mhaske directed officials to shift the accounts of the Thane Municipal Corporation from Axis Bank to a nationalised bank.

In the past, Amruta Fadnavis had courted controversies with her tweets.

In the latest such row, she last week termed Shiv Sena leader and state cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray a "worm".