Union Home Minister Amit Shah has congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Nirmala Sitharaman over the merging of PSBs announced by the latter on Friday. 

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India will now have 12 Public Sector Banks:

The Finance Minister said that there will be a wider network of branches as a byproduct of the merger. India will now have 12 Public Sector Banks after the merger. 

Here are the mergers:

1. Punjab National Bank (PNB), Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank are being merged. This would be the second-largest bank in the public sector with a combined business of Rs.17.95 lakh. It is 1.5 times the current business of PNB. Overall, it will have 11,437 domestic branches. 

2. Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank will be merged. The new merged bank would be the fourth-largest public sector bank garnering a total business of Rs. 15.20 lakh crore. It is 1.5 times the present business of Canara Bank. It will have 10,342 branches all over the country. 

3. Union Bank of India, Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank was the third merger to be announced. In the public sector, this would be the fifth-largest bank with a total business of Rs.14.59 lakh crore. It will have 9609 branches.  

4. The merger of Indian Bank and Allahabad Bank was the final one announced. With a gross business of Rs. 8.08 lakh crore, it would be the seventh-largest public sector bank. It shall have a combined total of 6104 branches.

Public sector banks reduced to 12 

The Finance Minister observed that after the merger concluded, only 12 public sector banks remained and that, the 4 new banks would garner about 82% of the total public sector banking business in India. She also assured that Bank of India and Central Bank of India would continue to function as separate banks on the national level. Sitharaman asserted that the regional dominance of the merged banks would be maintained. Similarly, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, UCO Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank would continue to function as usual.  

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