State Bank of India has informed that it has got sanction from Reserve Bank for a joint venture with Societe Generale, a leading financial services group from Europe, for providing custodial and related services in the country.

According to the sources, SBI will own 65% equity in the new joint venture that will be build to undertake the business, while the remaining 35 per cent will be hold by Societe Generale Securities Services.

The source further revealed that the new conglomerate intends to start operations by the first quarter of fiscal 2009.

According to the reports, Indian securities services market has grown sharply over the last few fiscals due to increase in the number of FIIs and asset management companies.

Currently, foreign banks like HSBC, Deutsche and Citi are major players offering custodial services in India.