No change in bank merger plan, it’s on course: FM

In this article senior journalist, Krishnanand Tripathi talks about the merger of banks which is scheduled for 1st April as there were uncertainties regarding the same. Giving the reference of FM, the article talks about the merger of various PSU banks which is yielding a good result.

New Delhi:Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said that there was no change in the bank merger plan and it will happen from April 1. There is a lot of progress on that front and these banks have done a lot of work to merge their core banking operations, said finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman after chairing a meeting of heads of PSU banks in New Delhi.

“There need not be any speculation. We are going as per schedule (April 1, 2020). There are no uncertainties at all," she said.

In August last year, finance minister Nirmala Sitharman had announced the merger of ten public sector banks into four. According to the announcement, United Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) will be merged into Punjab National Bank (PNB), making it the second-largest public sector bank after the SBI.

In addition to this, Allahabad Bank will merge with Indian Bank and Syndicate Bank will merge with Canara Bank. And Corporation Bank and Andhra Bank will merge with Union Bank of India.

However, the Union government is yet to issue a formal notification. According to the banking industry sources, if the government wants to implement the merger plan from April 1 then the notification should have been issued by this time.

Under the existing formula, merging banks are required to prepare a single balance sheet from the next fiscal.

A former banker, who was present in the meeting later told reporters that the delay in notification might mean that the merger could be delayed as well.

This will be the third round of merger by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, after the merger of SBI and five of its associate banks and Bhartiya Mahila Bank in 2017. Which was followed by the merger of Vijaya Bank & Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda in September 2018.

This will bring down the total number of public sector banks from 27 to just 12.