Bank Of Baroda Officially Third Largest Bank In India After Merger With Dena Bank, Vijaya Bank Takes Effect

The amalgamation of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank into Bank of Baroda (BoB) has taken effect from today (1 April), turning BoB into India's second largest public sector bank and third largest lender overall after state-owned State Bank of India and HDFC Bank.

The combined entity will have a geographical reach of over 9,500 branches, more than 13,400 ATMs with 85,000 employees serving 120 million customers with deposits and advances of Rs 8.75 lakh crore, and Rs 6.25 lakh crore, respectively, reports Economic Times.

Although the employees of the two merging banks appealed the Supreme Court against the merger, a two-member bench on Thursday (28 March) rejected the petition seeking a stay on its implementation.

Also, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Saturday (30 March 2019) issued a statement decreeing that from 1 April 2019 all Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank branches will operate and function as BoB outlets, and customers from both the merging banks will be treated as customers of BoB.

In this light, the Finance Ministry on 27 March 2019 had passed the infusion of Rs 5,042 crore into the BoB by way of preferential allotment of equity shares of the bank.