Vijaya, Dena to become Bank of Baroda from today

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ In a first three-way amalgamation, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank will merge with Bank of Baroda (BoB) from April 1 to create the third-largest lender of the country. As a result, branches of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank will function as BoB outlets from Monday onwards. “Customers including depositors of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank will be treated as customers of Bank of Baroda with effect from April 1, 2019,” the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had said in a statement on Saturday.

To make merger a smooth affair, the government last week decided to infuse Rs 5,042 crore in BoB to enhance its capital base to meet additional expense. According to the Scheme of Amalgamation, shareholders of Vijaya Bank will get 402 equity shares of BoB for every 1,000 shares held. In the case of Dena Bank, its shareholders will get 110 shares of BoB for every 1,000 shares.

The government in September last year announced the first-ever three-way consolidation of banks in India, with a combined business of Rs 14.82 trillion, making it the third-largest bank after State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank. The announcement of the three-way merger was among several reforms initiatives undertaken by Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar to make public sector banks (PSBs) healthy, robust and globally competitive.