State Bank of India is looking at merging to 1,500 branches
The State Bank of India (SBI) is looking at merging up to 1,500 of its branches post the merger of its five associate banks as part of a rationalisation drive.
At present, the five associate banks have about 6,000 branches and SBI has 16,500 branches.
Rajnish Kumar, managing director, national banking group, SBI, said on the sidelines of a CII conference in Mumbai, “We will look at rationalising some of our branches. For example, we have an SBI and State Bank of Hyderabad on two different floors of the same building. In such places, we will look at rationalisation. The branches can be relocated where we would like to see more growth.”
Earlier this month, the Union Cabinet gave go-ahead to the merger of SBI and its five associates – State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Travancore (SBT), State Bank of Patiala (SBP) and State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH).
SBI later said all the five associates will merge with it from April 1. Kumar said the retail book of SBI is currently at Rs 6.75 lakh crore, and after the merger, the portfolio of the combined entity would increase to around Rs 10 lakh crore.
Talking about the merger of the associate banks, Kumar said it would bring in an alignment of products, services, pricing and administration. “Post-merger, we expect that customers satisfaction and experience to be much more enhanced,” he said.
After the merger, all the five associates and SBI will have a balance-sheet size of Rs 41 lakh crore with 22,500 branches, 58,000 ATMs servicing over 50 crore customers. The associates have a total deposit base of Rs 5 lakh crore and ATMS of 8,964 across India.
