New Delhi : The country’s largest lender State Bank of India on Thursday said it is not in a position to acquire more banks at the moment as it needs 2-3 years to see gains from the consolidation effected last year.
SBI last year merged with itself five of its subsidiary banks and taking over Bharatiya Mahila Bank, catapulting it to be among top 50 global lenders. “We are not the right candidate to take over more banks, as we will need two to three years to see gains from consolidation of its associate banks last year,” SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar said.
He said that SBI is the largest bank with a market share of 23 per cent and more consolidation will lead to monopoly of the bank.
However, Kumar said India needs to reduce the number of state-owned banks through consolidation for better management.
To resolve power NPAs SBI hopes to resolve 7-8 stressed power assets with an exposure of around Rs 17,000 crore during the breather given by the Supreme Court till November 11, Kumar said.
“On my radar there are 7 or 8 projects. We are working only on that. If there is 100 per cent consensus among lenders only then it (resolution of stressed power assets) would happen,” he said.