Government not considering merger of public sector banks: Pankaj Chaudhary
Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has said that the government is not considering merger of public sector banks (PSBs). He said several steps have been taken by the government to strengthen the financial condition of PSBs.
The minister said the reforms undertaken by the government in the banking sector have created systemic improvements and instituted checks and controls to minimise the risk of recurrence of excessive stress. He further said PSU banks have shown improvement in their capital adequacy ratio and gross non-performing assets position post-merger. He noted that the merger has helped in improved synergies, economies of scale, better technology integration and the same has resulted in uniform improvement across all key financial parameters.
In the biggest consolidation exercise in the banking space, the government in August 2019, had announced four major mergers of public sector banks, bringing down their total number to 12 from 27 in 2017, a move aimed at making state-owned lenders global-sized banks.