Mumbai: Public sector lender Union Bank of India is in a bind over the eye-popping largesse it showered on a book ahead of its publication last year, when it decided to purchase nearly two lakh copies at a cost of ₹7.25 crore, to distribute among "customers/local schools/colleges/library, etc."

The book that so moved the lender's management as to merit this massive order was India@100: Envisioning Tomorrow's Economic Powerhouse, by Krishnamurthy V Subramanian, India's former chief economic adviser (CEA).

Subramanian subsequently served as India's nominee executive director at the International Monetary Fund, till the government prematurely terminated his tenure last week. Reports around his exit have cited alleged improprieties around promotion of his book as one of the reasons. Subramanian had been seen as an influential and promising young technocrat.

Discussion during board meeting

He had also been rumoured to be in the reckoning for a number of important roles since his stint as CEA.

In two inter-office letters seen by ET and issued in June and July 2024, ahead of the book's publication in August, the bank's support services department at its central office wrote to its 18 zonal heads, informing them of the decision by the "top management" to procure and distribute hard cover and paperback versions of the book among customers and corporates pan-India, as well as at local schools, colleges, libraries, et al.

These letters conveyed the decision to purchase 189,450 copies (10,525 copies each by 18 zonal offices) of the paperback at ₹350, and 10,422 copies of the hardcover at ₹597. The order would cumulatively amount to ₹7.25 crore.

The zonal offices were instructed to further distribute the copies to the regional offices under them. It's unclear if other orders for the central office or other establishments were also made.

Except for a few bestselling authors, books in English language sell so little in India that a title with sales surpassing 10,000 copies is deemed a bestseller.

When the office advice was sent, a 50% advance for this purchase had already been paid to publisher Rupa Publications. The office advice said the remainder of the payment should be made by the respective regional offices through "revenue budget available under 'miscellaneous' head."

Union Bank managing director and chief executive A Manimekhalai and chairman Srinivasan Varadarajan did not respond to ET's requests for comment.

When this expenditure item (50% advance to Rupa) was brought for ratification in a December board meeting of the lender, its executive director, Nitesh Ranjan, who oversees marketing and publicity among other portfolios, said he had not been informed about this purchase and declined to ratify the expenditure.

The board questioned the authority of Girija Mishra, the general manager overseeing the support services department, to authorise this payment by himself.

Manimekhalai informed the board, according to people aware of developments, that she had asked Mishra to make the purchase, but not to break any rules. About a week later, on December 26 last year, she suspended him. Mishra did not respond to messages from ET.

In January this year, the bank appointed KPMG to identify the lapses in this transaction. The consultant submitted its report by end of the month, although it's not known what the report said or recommended. It's also unclear if the bank has taken any further steps, apart from the suspension of the general manager.

Employee unions say the general manager was made a scapegoat, and have demanded further investigation.

On May 4, an association of bank employees wrote to Manimekhalai, demanding investigation into the "wasteful expenditure involving crores of rupees on purchase of the book, India@100."

"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 the letter.

"Further, the bank has to disclose as to what benefits it achieved in purchasing & distributing large number of the books by spending crores of rupees," Shankar wrote. The "bank has also to disclose whether proper procedure for purchase of books involving huge amount of expenditure was followed... so as to dispel many apprehensions and suspicions surrounding the top management and its involvement."

Union Bank of India is the fourth largest PSU bank, and is valued at Rs 96,298 crore. It has a loan book and total deposits of ₹9.5 lakh crore and ₹12.2 lakh crore, respectively