It may be awhile before home loan lender SBI finishes merging with all its subsidiary banks. The government is asking for a clear picture of the expense likely to be sustained for the rest of the mergers and others factors from SBI before taking a decision on the topic.
O P Bhatt, Chairman, SBI had stated when finishing the merger of State Bank of Indore with SBI that he would shortly be discussing the subject of merger of other subsidiary banks as well.
A leading finance ministry official said, “There is a cost involved in the merger and some associates are listed on bourses. A definite idea from the bank on the resources required, will smoothen the process”.
From the remaining subsidiary banks, SBBJ, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Travancore are publicly traded in India.
A top SBI official said that the merger of State Bank of Patiala and Hyderabad would not take a lot of time. He said, “We haven’t send any formal proposal so far. It will be done on a case to case basis in consultation with the management and unions of associate banks”.