The government will soon approve State Bank of India’s proposal to merge its five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank with itself, according to finance minister Arun Jaitley. He said the government will respond shortly to the proposal to merge all State Bank of India associates to it, which is pending with the government. Government policy by and large supports consolidation, he said. SBI fully owns its two subsidiaries State Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Patiala, and has majority stakes in the other three — State Bank of Mysore , State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur and State Bank of Travancore. The boards of these banks has approved the merger plans put forward by SBI. It is also looking to merge Bharatiya Mahila Bank with it. BMB started operations in 2013 and accounts for less than 0.1% of SBI’s total assets.
