Bank employees stage demonstrations over PSU banks merger

Nearly 500 employees and officers of various banks staged demonstrations Tuesday against the government's proposal to merge Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda. Last month, the government had announced amalgamation of three banks to create the country's third-largest lender.

The protest was carried out by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine unions, here in the Fort area. "This merger is neither in the interest of employees nor of the customers. If the government does not revisit the merger plan, then 10 lakh bank employees will be left with no option but to go on a strike," UFBU said in a release.

The envisaged amalgamation will be the first-ever three-way consolidation of banks in India, with a combined business of Rs 14.82 lakh crore, making it the third largest bank after SBI and ICICI Bank. The merger of the three banks would be through a share swap, which will be the part of the scheme of merger.

The boards of all the three banks have already given in-principle approvals for their amalgamation. All the three banks have now sent the merger proposal to the government for the final nod. Post-merger of Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank, the number of PSU banks will come down to 19.

(With inputs from agencies.)