New Delhi, Sept 17: The Finance Ministry on Monday confirmed the merger of three state lenders - Vijaya Bank, Dena Bank and Bank of Baroda - into one single bank. The merged entity, said Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar, will be the third largest bank in India.

The merger, however, has caused panic among a section of depositors in the above-mentioned banks, who have raised a query whether their incumbent cheque books, passbook and account number will remain valid or not.

Although the government is yet to officially respond or issue a notification regarding the issue, it remains unlikely that the customers will be forced to change their passbooks or cheque books. According to the Indian Express, "three banks will continue to work independently after the merger".

Meanwhile, the bank employees will not meet an adverse fate, clarified Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. "No employee will face any service conditions which are adverse in nature. The best of the service conditions will apply to all of them," he said.

The merger, Jaitley said, is part of the government's effort to combat the NPA crisis being faced by the public sector banks. "Government had announced in the budget that consolidation of banks was also in our agenda and the first step has been announced," he added.

The last merger of state-owned banks was carried out in April 2017, when six lenders, including the Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB), State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Patiala (SBP) and State Bank of Travancore (SBT) were merged into the State Bank of India (SBI). The depositors of these smaller banks were then forced to avail new cheque books and passbooks.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 17, 2018 09:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).