The Bangurs, who till recently held a 64 per cent stake in the bank, are believed to have offloaded around 13 per cent of their stake to the Mumbai-based Tayals at around Rs 50 crore. The details of the deal have been kept under wraps by the parties, but five of the Tayal nominees have sought entry into the bank's board.

Notices to this effect have been issued to shareholders for their ratification at the company's annual general meeting at Udaipur on September 28. The entry of Tayals to the board is, however, subject to approval of the Reserve Bank of India.

There has been speculation in the market that the Tayals will make an open offer to the shareholders of Bank of Rajasthan. However, Shree Krishna Polyester chairman Praveen Kumar Tayal denied any such move. "We don't have any interestin taking over a bank. We don't have those kind of funds,'' he told The Financial Express. He, however, confirmed that the bank board will have nominees of the Tayals. "We have less than 1 per cent share in the bank. But through the support of proxies from senior shareholders, we can have our directors on the board," Tayal said.

"We have offered our services to improve the functioning of the bank," Tayal said.

Meanwhile, speculators have driven up the Bank of Rajasthan scrip on the Bombay Stock Exchange from around Rs 54 on September 1 to Rs 61 on Thursday.

Bank managing director I Sadasiva Gupta refused to comment on the matter of the Tayals joining the board saying, "I have merely heard about the matter, and the picture would become clear only after the AGM."

The bank's board now has eight nominees of the Bangurs and one from RBI. The five new entrants to the board will be BR Gupta, Deepak Saruparia, Sanjay Kumar Tayal, Pravin Kumar Tayal and Som Prakash Arya.

Apart from the 13 per centstake purchased from Bangurs at a negotiated deal, the Tayals are reported to have purchased another 6 to 7 per cent from the open market.

Sources said subject to RBI approval, the bank will now be "jointly managed" by the Bangurs and Tayals. RBI officials, when contacted, said they were aware of the AGM notices but that they had not yet made up their mind on the entry of Tayals into the bank's board.

The bank is now controlled by the Bangurs even though RBI had ousted two promoter-directors -- Keshav Bangur and his father, SN Bangur -- from the board about two years ago. The bank is now headed by a part-time chairman, DB Sogani, who is considered to be close to Keshav Bangur.

The central bank's action against the two Bangurs followed allegations of financial irregularities regarding certain advances made by the bank.

Last year, the bank incurred a whopping net loss of Rs 87.84 crore as against a net profit of Rs 3.32 crore in the previous year. Deposits also fell by 3.82 per cent to Rs 2,826.73 croreat the end of the year compared to Rs 2,838.93 crore in the previous year. The burgeoning loss was attributed to the sharp rise in non-performing assets.