The country’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI) has decided to merge its five associate public sector banks (PSBs) and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with itself. In this regard, SBI has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that it is seeking in-principle approval for acquisition from the Union Government.

5 subsidiary banks are:
(i)    State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur,
(ii)     (ii) State Bank of Hyderabad,
(iii)    (iii) State Bank of Mysore,
(iv)     (iv) State Bank of Patiala and
(v)    (v) State Bank of Travancore.

 The merged entity will increase SBI’s market share from 17 per cent to 22.5-23 per cent the country with total business of over Rs. 35 lakh crore. It will have one-fourth of the deposit and loan market in the country and SBI’s staff strength will increase by 35-49 per cent. advertisement The merged entity will also increase branch network by 6,000. At present, SBI alone has more than 15,000 branches in the country. Background The merger move comes after the Union Government had announced a road map for bank consolidation during the 2016-17 Union Budget. This was seen as necessary to meet the huge infrastructure financing needs of the country. It also seeks to feature Indian Bank in the top 50 banks of the world in terms of size as no bank in the country features in it.