The government on August 30 announced that Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank will be merged into a combined entity with a total consolidated business of Rs 17,95,000 crore.
Likewise, Union Bank, Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank will be merged into a single entity that will have a combined business of Rs 14,59,434 crore
Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank will separately be combined into a single bank that will command a combined business of 15,20,295 crore.
Similarly, Indian Bank and Allahabad Bank will be merged to form a single bank where the amalgamated entity will have a business of Rs 8,07,859 crore.
What happens when you pool the individual savings of each member of a household? The figure looks large and formidable. If one individual slips into a crisis, the combined savings will take care of him and his dependents.
Ditto for banks. Merging weaker banks with stronger ones will erect a
protective ring for depositors and shareholders.
"You need strong banks rather than numerically large numbers," former Finance Minister Late Arun Jaitley had said in March 2016.
In 2018, the government set the ball rolling on this plan. Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank will amalgamate into a single organisation.
India nationalised banks in 1969 to remove the concentration of control from the hands of a few.
Nationalisation also intended to give a "professional bent to bank management" and to "encourage a new class of entrepreneurs", then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had said.
Having transited, rather painfully, from “ledger” book dominated PSBs to digital financial companies, the government now wants public sector banks to achieve scale and size to match up to the private sector.
The scale is important because it brings efficiencies in operations. India's
largest lender SBI does not feature among the top-50 global banks.
According to The Banker, the world's top four banks in 2019 were from China—the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China
For customers, the shared infrastructure will come as a big plus. For instance, there will be no cross-bank ATM usage fees between the merged banks. Mergers will allow customers to use of the common network.
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