State Bank of India (SBI)Merger with associates, BMB exempt from CCI approval

 

State Bank of India (SBI) will not need fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI)’s approval for merging 5 associates and Bhartiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with itself, a move that will create a global sized bank with an asset base of Rs. 30 lakh crore.

The acquisition is exempt from the approval of CCI under the Competition Act 2002.As per the amendment to the Competition Act, consolidation in the banking sector space is exempt from the approval of CCI

Last week, the board of SBI approved scheme of merger of five associate lenders State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Travancore (SBT) and Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with itself while protecting the interest of the existing staff.

The consolidated entity will add Rs. 8 lakh crore (about USD 120 billion) to SBI’s assets and consolidated entity will get catapulted into the top 50 banks globally.

The bank has taken a big step towards the first-ever large scale consolidation in the Indian banking sector by deciding to merge all its associate and BMB to create a banking behemoth with a network of more than 24,000 branches, 2,70,000 employees and total assets of Rs. 30 lakh crore, an increase of 36 per cent.