A viral social media post claiming that the Central government has ordered the merger of nine public sector banks into three larger entities has been declared fake by the Press Information Bureau’s Fact Check unit.
The document circulating online was designed to resemble an official Gazette of India notification issued by the Ministry of Finance. It falsely claimed that the government had approved a major consolidation of public sector banks and listed nine lenders that would supposedly be merged into three entities.
As per the fake notification, Indian Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and Central Bank of India would be absorbed into State Bank of India under a new “SBI Group” identity. It further claimed that Union Bank of India, Bank of India and Punjab & Sind Bank would be merged into Punjab National Bank, while Canara Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and UCO Bank would be brought under Bank of Baroda.
