After days of speculation and high drama, the Infrastructure Development Finance Company’s (IDFC) board on Tuesday rejected a merger with the State Bank of India (SBI).Presided by its non-executive chairman Deepak Parekh, and with the participation of Vinod Rai, additional secretary, Ministry of Finance, the IDFC board met on Tuesday and unanimously rejected the merger proposal.The rejection of the merger proposal by the board was based on the report submitted by the Sunil Mehta committee which favoured the independent functioning of the five-year old institution. Mehta is AIG’s country-head in India. Said Parekh: ‘‘IDFC will remain an independent entity with private sector features. The Government of India will continue to hold the 15 per cent stake of the RBI.’’Expressing his satisfaction over the improved performance of the institution in 2003-04, Parekh said IDFC is ready to take on more challenges to develop the infrastructure network of the country. The Mehta committee with other members including Parekh, A.K. Purwar, chairman-SBI, economist Omkar Goswami, and Rai will hunt for a new CEO within the next three to four months. Parekh said the company will deliberate on its IPO in its forthcoming AGM in June. He added that the company will be revalued before the launch of IPO. The six top officials of the company who put in their papers in protest over the merger proposal have also withdrawn them. But the board also approved the resignation of Munjee, who quit the organisation over the merger proposal.Meanwhile, the company has posted a 44 pc rise in net profit at Rs 259.15 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2004 over the previous fiscal. Net profit for 2002-03 had stood at Rs 179.95 crore.
