State Bank of India chief in Oman allays fears on merger

Muscat: Proposed merger of State Bank of India (SBI), the largest Indian public sector bank, with its associate banks will not have any impact on its customers in Oman like in India, a senior official from the bank said.
“Merger will not affect customers. Merger or no merger, the existing loan interest rates will not be affected. As SBI and its associate banks run on same IT support system, the transactions will also not be affected,” Piyus Kumar, the chief executive officer of SBI in Oman, told Times of Oman.
“Loan interests are reset only according to the loan agreement on periods mentioned in it. Merger will not affect loan interests,” the CEO said while adding that there may be some cosmetic changes on the online platform.
In a move to improve its treasury operations and cut redundancies, SBI is planning to merge State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Hyderabad.
“We will come with notifications for the public through newspapers and online media when the merger happens,” the CEO added.
In India, SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya the prime goal of the merger is improving the efficiency of the bank.
“By merging various associate banks with the SBI, we hope to create a formidable organisation. All stakeholders, including employees and shareholders, will equally benefit from the move,” Bhattacharya said.
Meanwhile, Suresh Kumar S, a Muscat-based Indian businessman, who has loans and transactions with SBT, said that they are happy to know that the merger won’t affect them.
“I have personal loans in SBT. Was worried whether the merger will affect us or not. If the bank officials are saying that we will not be affected, then we are happy,” Suresh added.
SBI is a government-owned corporation with its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As of 2014-15, it had assets of INR 20,480 billion (USD 310 billion) and more than 14,000 branches, including 191 foreign offices spread across 36 countries, making it the largest banking and financial services company in India by assets.