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State Bank of India is looking to synchronise its HR practices with those of associate banks ahead of any likely merger, the bank’s chairman has said. .
“There are certain HR practices adopted by them that are different; so we need to sort of align those before we look at the merger element,” said Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, SBI.
The associate banks already share the same technology platform and accounting principles. “So, to that extent, we are already almost on the same kind of a platform,” she said.
Alternative channels Regarding the timeline for any possible merger, Bhattacharya said: “At this point of time, it is really not something that we are considering immediately.” “We are really not looking into it (merger). We will see how things go once the new government is formed and we understand what they like us to do,” she explained.
Talking about alternative channels, Bhattacharya said: “If you see overall penetration of alternative channels, it is in the range around 35-40 per cent. But there are branches which are doing much better, and then there are branches which are doing much worse.”
“So, I have branches where the alternative channels’ penetration is up to 55–60 per cent, and yet there are some other branches where it is as low as 30 per cent. So, overall we would like to bring it to 65 per cent in the next two years time,” she added.
Utilisation Within Bangalore, in a few branches, since the utilisation of alternative channels is in excess of 80 per cent, which means footfalls at those branches are lower .
SBI is also actively trying to set up an e-lobby wherein the entire gamut of facilities, including cheque deposit, cash deposit etc are available round the clock and located adjacent to branches that see more customer footfalls.
Employees of associate banks — State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur and State Bank of Mysore — are, in the opinion of industry veterans, not at par with respect to an SBI employee, and India’s largest bank is also trying to address this issue.
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