SBH slips into history

​Hyderabad: The newly-created State of Telangana is set to lose its pride banking ‘asset’ when the State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), whose origins dates back to Nizam era, merges with its parent the State Bank of India (SBI) today.

Set up as Hyderabad State Bank on August 8,1941 by the erstwhile Nizam rulers through Hyderabad State Bank Act, 1941, the bank handled Osmania Sikka, Nizam’s currency, carried out commercial banking activities and managed public debt in the then Hyderabad State which comprised present day Telangana, Hyderabad-Karnataka of Karnataka and Marathwada (now in Maharashtra State).

The bank opened its first branch at Gunfoundry in Hyderabad on April 5, 1942. A decade later, it took over Hyderabad Mercantile Bank Ltd. In 1956, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) converted the bank into its subsidiary before renaming it as the State Bank of Hyderabad, the name that the bank sported till March 31, 2017. The SBH turned into a SBI subsidiary in 1959.

“It’s really sad for us to see SBH, which has a history of over 75 years, slipping into oblivion. We don’t know what worthwhile can be achieved with this merger. In fact, SBH is more popular in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh than SBI,” S B Rajasekhar, President, State Bank of Hyderabad Staff Association, told The Hans India.

At the last count, the SBH has around 2,000 branches which will, henceforth, come under the SBI fold. With over 19,000 people on its rolls, the Nizam era bank has handled a total business of over Rs 2.5 lakh crore last fiscal.

In May last year, SBI announced its plans to merge five associate banks including SBH with itself, saying the move would help it emerge a global banking giant. The other associate banks are State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Travancore.