SBI-Mahila Bank merger on April 1: RBI

Mumbai, March 22 (IANS) The Bharatiya Mahila Bank will be merged with the State Bank of India on April 1, along with five associate banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Wednesday.

"All branches of Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) will function as branches of the SBI from April 1. Customers, including depositors of BMB, will be treated as customers of SBI," the RBI said in a statement here.

It was earlier notified that five associate banks -- SBBJ (State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur), SBM (State Bank of Mysore), SBT (State Bank of Travancore), SBP (State Bank of Patiala) and SBH (State Bank of Hyderabad) -- will be merged with the SBI on April 1.

The government had issued the acquisition order for Bharatiya Mahila Bank Limited on March 20.

On Monday, the Centre said it had decided to merge the bank with the SBI to ensure greater banking services outreach to more women.

The objectives of affordable credit to women as well as propagation of women-centric products need to be quickly achieved through a wider network and lower cost of funds, the Finance Ministry had said.

The SBI group already has 126 exclusive all-women branches across the country while the BMB has seven.

In the three years since BMB was set up in 2013, it has extended loans of Rs 192 crore to women borrowers. The SBI group has provided loans of about Rs 46,000 crore to women.

The SBI has more than 20,000 branches. Out of its workforce of around two lakh, 22 per cent are women.