Mumbai, Sep 26 (PTI) Cosmos Bank on Tuesday said Sahebrao Deshmukh Co-operative (SDC) Bank has merged into it.

The merger, which gives the Pune-headquartered cooperative lender 11 more branches, seems to have been triggered by competitive intensities and smaller lenders' difficulties to face the biggies.

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"Due to severe competition, it has become difficult for small cooperative banks to sustain," a statement from Cosmos Bank announcing the merger said.

This is a "voluntary merger" and Cosmos will get additional deposits of Rs 143.40 crore with the deal, as per the statement.

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The RBI, which had in July 2022, put restrictions on SDC Bank including a cap on withdrawals for the depositors, has given its nod for the merger, which takes the number of Cosmos branches in Mumbai to 50.

Cosmos Bank chairman Milind Kale on Tuesday appealed to all depositors of SDC Bank to restart banking operations.

The Cosmos Bank statement said the lender is passing through "negative growth" at present and despite that, it has committed to secure funds of all the depositors.

A majority, ten branches, of SDC are in the financial capital, while one branch is in Satara, it said, adding that the overall business of SDC is Rs 227.54 crore.

In FY23, Cosmos' net profit had stood at Rs 151 crore and the lender had also distributed a dividend of Rs 8 per share.

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