Centre eyes more reach with SBI-BMB merger

New Delhi: The centre on Monday said that it has decided to merge the Bharatiya Mahila Bank with SBI to ensure greater banking services outreach to a larger number of women, at a faster pace.

“The objectives of affordable credit to women as well as propagation of women-centric products need to be quickly achieved through a wider network and lower cost of funds,” said finance ministry.

It said that the decision to merge has been taken to take advantage of the large network of SBI. Since BMB was established, it has extended loans of Rs 192 crores to women borrowers, while the SBI group has provided loans of about Rs 46,000 crore to women.