The Government of India is preparing a big plan to reorganise public-sector banks. If this plan is adopted, the number of government-owned banks will come down from 12 to only four by the financial year 2027. These four banks will be State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of Baroda (BoB), and a new, sizable bank created by combining Canara Bank and Union Bank of India, according to sources in a report released by Money Control. The Finance Ministry is working on the idea with the main purpose of strengthening the banks, boosting their financial health and making them strong enough to compete with global lenders.
Canara Bank and Union Bank are scheduled to be combined first. The government is also exploring if Indian Bank and UCO Bank can be incorporated into this same structure. These banks will serve as the primary pillars of the public-sector banking system once they are finished, along with SBI, PNB, and BoB. Other mid-sized banks such as Indian Overseas Bank, Central Bank of India, Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra may be merged into SBI, PNB or BoB. Punjab & Sind Bank has not yet received a final verdict. Before the plan is implemented, it has to pass through numerous approval phases. It will first be presented to the Minister of Finance.
After that, it will be reviewed by senior officials, examined by the Prime Minister’s Office and checked by SEBI because the decision could affect the stock market. Only after all clearances will the mergers move forward.
The government believes that creating larger and stronger banks will help meet the country’s growing need for credit. Bigger banks can handle large loans, support infrastructure projects and match the growth of private sector banks. Officials also feel that mergers will help cut costs, remove duplicate branches and make better use of capital. They say that this round of consolidation may be smoother than the earlier one because banks today have stronger balance sheets, better systems and more experience in handling mergers.
If this plan becomes a reality, it will be the second major phase of bank consolidation after the 2017–2020 reforms, which reduced the number of state-owned banks from 27 to 12. The new proposal aims to take this change further and build a smaller number of much stronger public-sector banks that can support India’s future growth.
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