Bharatiya Mahila Bank to merge with SBI

The government on Monday announced it has decided to integrate the Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with the State Bank of India (SBI) so that more women can enjoy the benefits of greater banking services.

"The decision has been taken in view of the advantage of the large network of SBI," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

"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," it said.

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

"The proportion of administrative and managerial cost in BMB is much higher to reach the same coverage. For the same cost, a much higher volume of loans to women could be given through SBI," it further added.

BMB has extended loans of ₹192 to women borrowers in the next three years since it was established in 2013. The SBI has provided loans of about Rs 46,000 crore to women