SBH becomes SBI from today

Only name has changed and not services, say officials

Sweet Memory: Employees of State Bank of Hyderabad taking a selfie in front of bank in Khammam on Friday.

The State Bank of Hyderabad, the oldest bank in the Telangana region, which played a major role in the development of the erstwhile Karimnagar district on the agricultural and industrial fronts and economic empowerment of women through the formation of self-help groups as the Lead Bank of the district, would now be called State Bank of India from Saturday.

The SBH would be merged with the State Bank of India and the SBI would not only become the lead district bank but also the Treasury bank for all the government departments. It would also maintain the currency chest and meet the currency shortage requirements of other banks. “Only the name would change to SBI and nothing else. All the duties performed by the SBH would now be done by the SBI, which would also prepare the Annual Credit Plan of the district,” explained a bank official.

The joint mandal-level meetings for the grounding of government welfare schemes would be done by the SBI, he maintained. The names of SBH would be replaced with the SBI in a phased manner to avoid confusion among the customers, he said and feared that some of the SBH branches would be closed in the district.

Employees’ union leader Bhagavanth Reddy said that they fought against the merger, but failed. The merger would affect the employees of SBH. “Our salaries are two increments lower than SBI staff and we wish the new management would provide equal salaries,” he said.

Expressing concern that more than 20 to 30 SBH bank branches would be closed down in the district, he also feared the employees would be also retrenched as a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) had been announced. “We are bidding adieu to SBH after working for it for several years and we have to get ready to work in a completely in new environment from Saturday,” he said.

On the other hand the customers of SBH are hoping that the service would improve after the merger. R. Chandra Prabhakar, a pensioner with an account in SBH like other government employees and pensioners, hoped that the bank employees would change their attitude towards the customers by providing services in a more friendly environment.