SBI cancels JV for merchant acquiring biz

State Bank of India has called off negotiations for establishing a joint venture with Visa Inc and Elavon Inc for conducting merchant acquiring business. A joint venture was proposed between SBI Payment Services Pvt Ltd, the wholly owned subsidiary of SBI, and Visa Inc and Elavon Inc, the bank said in a notice to the stock exchange. The bank did not say why it called off the venture. It has reportedly also shelved plans for a joint venture with Bharti Airtel to have business correspondents represent the bank in rural areas for offering basic banking services and another joint venture with Tata Motors Finance Ltd for financing the vehicles manufactured by Tata Motors on regulatory concerns. India's largest bank was to roll out network of 25,000 point-of-sale (POS) terminals by end of December 2011 through the JV with Visa and Elavon. Currently, the bank has a network of 10,000 POS terminals (electronic machines on which credit and debit cards are swiped to make payments). Through the venture, the bank planned to set up 6 lakh POS terminals in five years.