India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a live press conference today announced the merger of 10 public sector banks into four big banks.
Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank shall be merged to form the 2nd largest public sector bank in India.
Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank shall be merged to form the 4th largest bank in India.
Union Bank, Corporation Bank and Andhra Bank shall merge to become 5th largest PSB.
Indian Bank shall merge with Allahabad Bank to form the largest PSB in India.
The FM also announced a mega capital infusion of ₹ 55,250 crores of which PNB and Union Bank alone shall get ₹ 27,700 crores.
Public sector banks have been crippled with bad loans since 2014 and finding it increasingly difficult to start fresh lending which has caused a severe cash crunch across all sectors. With this mega-merger and fresh capital infusion, the government is hoping to reduce the burden of bad debts on smaller banks and start fresh lending.