New Delhi: The Punjab National Bank PNB) board of directors has approved in principle the merger of Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India with it. According to the information given to the stock market, this merger was approved in a meeting of the board of directors of the bank on Thursday.

The meeting was called after the Finance Ministry received a directive from the three banks to discuss the merger proposal. An alternative arrangement headed by the Finance Minister after consulting the Reserve Bank of India has allowed the merger to proceed. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week in Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of Punjab National Bank,Syndicate Bank had announced the merger of Canara Bank, Allahabad Bank with Indian Bank and Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank with Union Bank of India.

Apart from this, the board of directors of PNB also approved the infusion of capital of Rs 18,000 crore by the government through preferential share allocation. On Friday, the government announced a capital infusion of Rs 16,000 crore in PNB. An extraordinary general meeting has been convened on 22 October to allow all the shareholders of the bank in this regard.