Associate banks propose merger with parent SBI

New Delhi: After over five years of hiatus, associate banks of SBI including State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur have proposed to merger with the parent lender. The respective boards have proposed merger with the State Bank of India (SBI), the parent, in a meeting held on Tuesday, sources said. The meeting of central board of SBI is going to consider the merger, they added. Meanwhile, a section of employee unions have registered protest against any such move and threatened to go on a strike if such move is approved by the SBI and the government. All employees of Associate Banks will go on strike on May 20, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) General Secretary C H Venkatachalam said. The country's largest lender has five associate banks -- State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Hyderabad. Among these, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Travancore are listed. SBI first merged associate State Bank of Saurashtra with itself in 2008. Two years later in 2010, State Bank of Indore was merged. The government recently set up the Bank Board Bureau (BBB) to look into the issues including consolidation in public sector banking space. The BBB headed by former CAG Vinod Rai had conducted interview for appointments of Managing Directors of some of the banks where posts will be falling vacant during the current fiscal. The Bureau was constituted to help the government select heads of public sector banks and financial institutions and assist banks in developing strategies with regard to capital-raising and consolidation. Besides Chairman, the Bureau has three ex-officio members and an equal number of expert members. Expert members are ICICI Bank's former joint MD H N Sinor, Bank of Baroda's former CMD Anil K Khandelwal and rating agency Crisil's ex-chief Rupa Kudwa. Its ex-officio members are Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises, Financial Services Secretary and RBI Deputy Governor.