FM Nirmala Sitharaman to address press conference at 4 pm today; likely to announce major plan for merger of PSU banks

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is holding a meeting with the heads of the public sector banks (PSBs) today. It is expected that there will be a major announcement on the merger plan of the PSBs.

The Narendra Modi government has reportedly prepared a major plan for merging multiple sets of PSBs and may announce it anytime soon, said a report in Business Standard quoting sources.

The department of financial services in the finance ministry on Friday convened a meeting of chief executives of at least ten PSBs, which are likely part of the merger plan, said the report.

These ten PSBs a re: Punjab National Bank, Union Bank, Canara Bank, United Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, Indian Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Syndicate Bank, Corporation Bank and Andhra Bank, according to Moneycontrol.

Meanwhile, shares of the PSBs were trading mixed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in the afternoon, after reports said the government may announce the mega plan for the merger of the state-run banks today.

Oriental Bank of Commerce, Central Bank of India, Syndicate Bank and Allahabad Bank were up in the range of 3 per cent to 6 per cent on the NSE.

In the previous term of the Modi government, five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank were merged with State Bank of India. Similarly, Dena Bank, Vijaya Bank merged with Bank of Baroda which came into effect from 1 April 2019.

According to the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Acts of 1970 and 1980, the government must consult the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) before planning of merger plan.