To ensure greater banking outreach to women, Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) will soon merge with State Bank of India (SBI) from April 1.
“It (merger) shall come into effect on April 1, 2017,” a government gazette notification said.
“The undertaking of the BMB as it stood immediately before the effective date shall, without any further act, instrument or deed, stand transferred to, and vest in SBI,” the notification further added.
“Every permanent and regular officer or other permanent and regular employee of the BMB (except the Board of Directors) serving in the employment immediately before the effective date will become employee of the SBI,” it said.
Reportedly, the merger of BMB with paid up capital of Rs 1,000 crore was done three years after it was formed.
Explaining the logic behind the merger, the finance ministry said the SBI group already has 126 exclusive all-women branches across the country while the BMB has only seven.
In the three years since the BMB was established, it has extended loans of Rs 192 crore to women borrowers while the SBI group has provided loans of about Rs 46,000 crore to women borrowers.
The SBI has a large outreach of more than 20,000 branches and lowest cost of funds in the sector. Of the total workforce of around 2 lakh employees in the SBI, 22 per cent are women.
The BMB, set up in 2013, has 103 branches with its presence in almost all the states. The total business of the bank is about Rs 1,600 crore.
