State Bank of India (SBI) seems to be active in its merger movements and this is not only happening in the domestic front but also at the international level. The bank has merged its Mauritius-based subsidiary, Indian Ocean International Bank (IOIB) with SBI International (Mauritius).

The merger has been done to consolidate operations in the region and now the new entity will begin operations under the name SBI (Mauritius) with effect from October 25th, 2008.

SBI's Chairman, O P Bhatt said, "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."

Indian Ocean International Bank had been established in Mauritius in 1978 and has a network of 11 fully-integrated branches across major cities and towns. Besides there 10 ATMs of the bank that are installed at different locations. In April 2005, SBI acquired the majority stake in the bank.

SBI International (Mauritius) Ltd is a Mauritius incorporated banking subsidiary of SBI. It operates in both offshore as well as domestic sector offering products and services in corporate, retail and personal segment.

Recently SBI has amalgamated its subsidiary, SBI Commercial and International Bank Ltd. (SBICI) with itself on December 11th. Also the takeover of SBICAP Securities Ltd has been approved by the Executive Committee of Central Board.