India's finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said there was no uncertainty about the merger of 10 public sector banks to create four large entities and things were moving in line with the schedule.
“There are no uncertainties about bank merger. Discussions are going about convenience with which they are doing it... There is a lot of core banking work which they are undertaking... I am on course. There need not be speculation. All of us are at maximum capacity in terms of merging core banking solution,” Sitharaman told reporters after a meeting with public sector bank chiefs.
With the April 1 deadline for the new entities to take shape approaching fast, there has been doubt on whether the process will be completed, given that several formalities are yet to be completed. While the bank boards have cleared the proposals, the move has to be cleared by the Union cabinet and regulatory compliance has to be undertaken after that.
While announcing her decision to travel to several districts across the country to meet bank employees at the ground level, Sitharaman said the idea was to get first hand feedback. Asked about an oft-repeated grouse over delay in wage revision, the minister said banks were discussing the wage revisions, which have been delayed by several years, and the Indian Banks’ Association will take a call on it.
She also said the government had asked state-run lenders to decide on restructuring of loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) under onetime window opened by RBI.
