India's largest lender, State Bank of India has merged its subsidiary, SBI Commercial and International Bank Ltd. (SBICI) with itself on December 11th.

The lender informed Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that, "The acquisition of SBICI has been approved by Boards of State Bank of India and SBICI subject to necessary regulatory clearance."

SBICI Bank is a fully owned subsidiary of SBI but it runs as a private sector bank offering a wide range of financial products and services. The bank has wide reach in both Indian and International markets.

Even the take over of SBICAP Securities Ltd by SBI has been approved by the Executive Committee of Central Board. Following the necessary details and approval procedure SBICAP Securities Ltd will become the subsidiary of SBI. Currently it's a subsidiary SBI Capital Markets Ltd which is an investment banking arm of SBI.

In the meantime, SBI has said that it will soon review the interest rate on the backdrop of monetary measures taken by the Reserve Bank of India. SBI's Chairman O P Bhatt said, "We are going to review rates."

Bhatt said that bankers would consider all necessary measures that can boost up the slowing economy. Yes Bank, HDFC Bank and Union Bank have already cut down their benchmark prime lending rate by 50 basis points each.

However Mr Bhatt feels that, "There are lots of things happening to stimulate demand in economy. Still there is a feeling that more is required."

SBI has last cut its PLR by 75 basis points to 13% in the month of November.