Effective April 1st, Bank Of Baroda, Vijaya & Dena Bank merged into one, thereby creating one of the largest merged entities in the Indian banking sector.
With 9,500 branches, 13,400 ATMs, and 85,000 employees, Bank of Baroda has become India’s 2nd largest bank after SBI.
Now, reports are coming in that Bank Of Baroda, which is the largest of these three banks, may close down or rationalize 800 to 900 branches pan-India.
Will this lead to job loss?
Bank Of Baroda May Close Down or Rationalize 800 to 900 Branches
Before the merger, Bank of Baroda had 6000+ branches, whereas Vijaya Bank had 2000+ branches, and Dena Bank had 1900+ branches.
Now, as the merger is complete, customers’ data is being migrated into one common database, which means that customers from either of three banks can transact and operate from any of these branches from Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank or Dena Bank.
This is creating redundancy of a massive scale, and scenarios are appearing wherein all three banks have a branch in the same location or the same building.
Whereas only one branch can serve the purpose, instead of three.
One unnamed bank official said, “There are cases where branches of three banks are at one location or one building. So these branches have to be either closed or rationalized as duplication is a drain on efficiency,”
Bank of Baroda has identified that there are 800 to 900 branches all over India, which can be either closed down or relocated or rationalized/optimized to streamline their operations.
Which Branches Will Be Closed Down?
First of all, Zonal and Regional offices of Bank of Baroda across several cities will be closed down, as there is no point in having three each Zonal and Regional office from Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank in the same location/city.
Then, those branches which are in close proximity to one another (Bank of Baroda or Vijaya Bank or Dena Bank) will be closed down, or relocation.
Besides, Bank of Baroda has strong presence in West, North and South of India, and very weak presence in East of India.
This means that several branches in North, West and South will be closed down in coming months.
Will There Be Job Cuts?
On theory yes. There can be massive job cuts, even if 20-30% of these 800-900 branches are closed down.
Even with an average of 20 employees per branch, we can witness 4000 to 5000 employees being asked to leave the bank.
Since Bank of Baroda has 55,000+ employees, compared to 16,000+ of Vijaya Bank and 13,000+ of Dena Bank, we are speculating that most of the layoffs will happen with Bank of Baroda.
There has been no confirmation whether any job loss will occur or not, or any branch will be closed down or not.
We will keep you updated, as we receive more updates.
Also Read: Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank Can Be Merged With 9 Smaller Banks: Find The Shocking Reason Why!
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