The Centre will go ahead with the merger of associates banks and Bhartiya Mahila Bank with SBI, since the union cabinet has okayed the proposal.
“All procedures will be followed. The government has already taken decision at the level of the Cabinet to fully support the proposal for the merger,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters recently after a meet with public sector banks for the first quarter performance review.
The decision came despite bank unions protest against it.
Government has assured the unions that all the procedures will be followed in the merger.So, State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Hyderabad and the new Bharatiya Mahila Bank will be merged with SBI.
An additional 8 lakh crores will be added to the bank’s assets making the assets worth around 30 lakh crores. This will be an increase of 36 percent in the assets growth.
In May, about 50,000 employees of the five SBI associate banks had gone on a day-long nationwide strike to protest the merger with their parent bank SBI. Besides, the Kerala Legislative Assembly had passed a resolution in July against the merger of State Bank of Travancore with the SBI, stating it would adversely affect the state’s economic growth. But now, after cabinet’s approval, the merger is imminent.
