CCI clears Hitachi's 26% stake buy in SBI Payment

New Delhi: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) Friday said it has approved the acquisition of 26 per cent stake by Hitachi Payment Services in SBI Payment Services.

The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) and payments solution provider Hitachi Payment Services entered into an agreement in October to form a joint venture (JV) for establishing a card acceptance and digital payment platform.

The competition watchdog in a tweet on Friday said it "approves acquisition of 26 per cent equity share capital of SBI Payment Services Private Limited by Hitachi Payment Services Private Limited".

SBI will have a majority stake in the proposed JV.

The JV will provide various payment options to customers and merchants focusing on areas such as rollout of a nationwide card acceptance infrastructure, quick response code acceptance, Unified Payment Interface, mass transit sector and e-commerce businesses.

In a separate tweet, the fair trade regulator said it has given green signal to Ageas Insurance International's acquisition of 40 per cent equity share in Royal Sundaram General Insurance.

Royal Sundaram is a provider of general (non-life) insurance services in India and is a subsidiary of Sundaram Finance Group.

The CCI "approves acquisition of 40 per cent of the equity share capital of Royal Sundaram General Insurance Co. Limited by Ageas Insurance International N.V," the regulator said in a tweet.