SBI merges 2 Mauritius subsidiaries

State Bank of India (SBI) has merged its Mauritius-based subsidiary, Indian Ocean International Bank (IOIB), with SBI International (Mauritius) to consolidate its operations in the African island nation. The new entity has begun operations as SBI (Mauritius). “At present, SBI is consolidating operations of its various subsidiaries and associate banks. The merger of State Bank of Saurashtra has already happened. It does not make sense to operate two entities in the same geography (Mauritius) and hence we decided to merge IOIB with SBI International,” said SBI Chairman O P Bhatt. IOIB has been operating in Mauritius since 1978. The bank has 11 fully-integrated branches in major cities and towns, including Rodrigues, and has a network of 10 ATMs. SBI had acquired a majority stake in the bank in April 2005. Its assets were Rs 651.70 crore at the end of March 2008 as against Rs 556.25 crore a year ago. SBI International, one of the first offshore banks to be established in Mauritius in 1990, began with a paid-up capital of $10 million. Its assets at the end of March 2008 were $285 million as against $113.53 million a year ago. The new entity, SBI (Mauritius), began operations from October 25 this year. On the domestic front, SBI plans to merge SBI Commercial and International Bank (SBICI), its wholly-owned subsidiary, with itself and also take over SBICAP Securities to make it a direct subsidiary.