Bharatiya Mahila Bank will be merged with State Bank of India, the government said. This is to ensure greater banking services outreach to more women at a faster pace, it said. The finance ministry, which made the announcement, said the decision to merge BMB with SBI has been taken in view of the advantage of the large network of SBI among other things. In the three years since Bharatiya Mahila Bank was established, women have been extended loans of Rs192 crore by the bank and about Rs46,000 crore by SBI group. The SBI group has 126 all-women branches across the country, while Bharatiya Mahila Bank has seven. A ministry statement said the proportion of administrative and managerial cost in BMB is much higher to reach the same coverage. For the same cost, a much higher volume of loans to women could be given through SBI, it added.
