SBI, associate banks merger gets approval

New Delhi: The much awaited merger of State Bank of India (SBI) with its five associate entities was on Wednesday okayed by the Union Cabinet, a move which will make the state-owned lender a global-sized bank.

India’s largest lender SBI had last month mooted the proposal for merger of its five subsidiary banks with itself and acquisition of the newly set up Bharatiya Mahila Bank. SBI has five associate lenders — State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Hyderabad.

“Kindly await a structured briefing on that,” telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said when asked if the Cabinet approved the merger of associate banks with the SBI.

Meanwhile, SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said that the merger of SBI and its associate banks is a win-win for both the sides. “Currently, no Indian bank features in the top 50 banks of the world. With this merger, some visibility at global level is likely to increase. Customers of associates and subsidiaries of the bank will also be beneficiaries,” she said. She further said that with this merger the network of SBI will increase and its reach multiply.