SBI plans merger of 5 associate banks in 18 months

"The bank (SBI) envisages consolidation of all subsidiary banks with SBI within a period of 12 to 18 months," Finance Ministry informed the Standing Committee on Finance.

This was in response to a query on the stance of the government on merging the subsidiaries with SBI raised by the Parliamentary panel headed by former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha.

In the submission to the panel, SBI Chairman O P Bhatt said "there are five banks remaining. We have representations from various associations, leaders etc from these five banks which want these banks also to be merged with the State Bank of India simply because it is primarily good for the employees in multiple ways".