SBI Associates Surge on Merger Buzz

Shares in associate banks of SBI surged as much as 18 per cent on Wednesday after a news report said India's biggest lender is planning to merge its five associate banks with itself.

SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya was quoted by the news report saying that "the timing is very conducive now" to look merging the associate banks.

However Sharad Sharma, managing director of State Bank of Mysore, one of the associate banks of SBI, told NDTV, that "although there is no recent movement on this, on a medium-term basis that would be the road ahead".

The combination of the associates will enhance the asset base of SBI to Rs 21.9 lakh crore, the report said, and will add 5,658 more branches to SBI's network. Market share of the combined entity will rise to 24 per cent, from 19 per cent at present, the report said.

As of 9.40 a.m., shares of State Bank of Mysore was trading higher by 16.47 per cent at Rs 628 while State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur was up 14.62 per cent and State Bank of Travancore 10 per cent. SBI was trading up 1.66 per cent at Rs 2,710.

In comparison, the broader Nifty was flat modestly higher by 0.10 per cent to 7,664.