BENGALURU: If you are a customer of the State Bank of India (SBI) or its erstwhile associate banks, you will have to wait for at least three months for clarity on whether your home branch will continue to function or it will be merged with another branch.
A senior SBI official said it will take a minimum of three months or more to “start the process” of shutting down, merger or relocation of branches. Consolidation of the branches has been necessitated following the merger of SBI and its associate banks on April 1.
Retention of a branch depends on its capacity to hold the combined business of it and the branches to be merged with it. The availability of space and infrastructure will be the parameters while taking a call on the branches.
It does not necessarily mean that the branches of only former associate banks will be closed, the official said. The number of surplus branches to be shut down in city limits is small, the official said adding that it will be higher in rural areas.
In metro areas, duplication of branches will be resolved by their relocation instead of closures, he added.
He said there will be no cut in jobs after the consolidation of the branches.
Currently there are 1,888 branches of SBI and its former associate banks put together in the state. These include 721 branches of original SBI, 887 of now erstwhile SBM (State Bank of Mysore) and 209 of former SBH (State Bank of Hyderabad). Interestingly, branches of the former associate banks outnumber those of original SBI branches.