Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced what is described as ‘Big Bank’ reforms, consolidating the public sector banking by merging 10 banks into four. This will make Punjab National Bank the second largest PSB in the country after State Bank of India, displacing Bank of Baroda.

Why consolidation
* Strong banks are necessary to achieve the target of making India a $5 trillion economy by 2024
* Big banks will have enhanced capacity to increase credit
* They will have more national presence and global reach
* Their operational efficiency will increase and cost of lending will go down

Here is an overview of the new, bigger banks after the merger announced on Friday:

Punjab National Bank + Oriental Bank of Commerce + United Bank
* The new bank (PNB) will be the second largest bank with business worth Rs 17.95 lakh crore
* It will have the second largest branch network, with 11,437 branches
* High CASA and lending capacity combined in the new consolidated bank
* Large cost reduction potential due to network overlaps

Canara Bank + Syndicate Bank
* The new bank will be the fourth largest bank with business worth Rs 15.20 lakh crore
* It will have the third largest branch network, with 10,342 branches

Union Bank of India + Andhra Bank + Corporation Bank
* The consolidated bank will be the fifth largest bank with business worth Rs 14.59 lakh crore
* It will have the fourth largest branch network, with 9,609 branches
* Business to grow two to 4.5 times
* Large cost reductions possible now

Indian Bank + Allahabad Bank
* The new bank will be the seventh largest bank with business worth Rs 8.08 lakh crore
* It will have nationwide presence with strong footprint in the south, north and east
* The business size will double

Bank of Baroda + Vijaya Bank + Dena Bank
* The three were merged into one, BoB, last year. It now stands as the third largest public sector bank