State Bank of Indore merger with SBI in public interest: govt

The government today said the merger of State Bank of Indore with the State Bank of India (SBI) is in public interest.

The merger is in "overall public interest," Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said replying to the debate on the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Amendment Bill, 2010 in Rajya Sabha.

"Now, they (State Bank of Indore customers) can deposit and withdraw money from all the branches of State Bank of India," he said.

The Upper House later passed the bill seeking to omit all references to the State Bank of Indore, which has been acquired by the SBI in July last year.

The Minister said the merger would provide State Bank of Indore customers, mainly in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, access to entire 14,000 SBI branches across the country and abroad.

"Now, they can deposit and withdraw money from all the branches of State Bank of India," he said and added that the acquisition is in "overall public interest."

He assured the members that interest of the employees and retired employees would be protected.

To queries, Meena said there were 86,000 branches of banks in the country out of which 32,000 were in rural areas.

"In recent times, the number of bank branches opened every year is around four to five thousand," he said.

Meena said Indian banks were doing a "commendable job" and registering profits and performed similarly during the global recession period also.

"The credit for this goes to the regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the banks," he added.