2,550 SBI Branches Closed In 5 Years Due To Mergers; Heavy Loss Of Jobs, Business Reported By Employee Unions

We all know about how the merger of PSBs has stirred up a wave of huge unrest among the employees, making them revolt, protest, and even strike against the banks. 

But newly revealed data will shock you even more – there have been more than 3400 branch closures in the last five years. 

These branches are of 26 different banks, which also involves the State Bank of India, which is India’s largest banking institution.

Find out all the stats and numbers of closed bank branches right below.

3400 Bank Branches Closed, Highest Number Of Branches Closed In 2017-18

As per the statistics revealed by the RBI, the highest figure has been in the year 2017-2018. Responding to an RTI query, the apex bank said that during this period, about 2083 branches of the public sector banks remained shut. 

For the years before that, i.e., in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17, the figures were 90, 126 and 253 branches respectively. In 2018-19, there were about 875 such branch closures. 

In addition to that, reports also state that out of the 3400 branches that close, 2,568 were of the State Bank of India. Moreover, Bharatiya Mahila Bank, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Travancore were all merged with SBI on April 1, 2017. 

The Reserve Bank of India was responding to a Right To Information query. 

Big Banks Have Been Merged; Will This Result in Loss of Business? 

In recent history, there has also been news about the Punjab National Bank and the Canara Bank merging into multiple banks, such as Andhra Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, UCO Bank, United Bank of India and Union Bank of India. Also, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank were also merged with the Bank of Baroda in April 2019. 

All India Bank Employees’ Association General Secretary CH Venkatachalam said that a minimum of 7000 branches of these banks will most probably be affected if the Govt decides to merge four big banks of the ten state-owned banks in India. 

He also said that most of the affected branches will be those in metros and cities.

He also talked about how the mergers would result in diminishing the business of the PSBs as it is a general observation that customers stop transacting at the bank if it is closed or merged with another one. 

Bank Branches Being Closed: Loss Of Jobs?

As per All India Bank Employees’ Association General Secretary CH Venkatachalam, due to the mergers, more than 7000 branches of Public Sector Banks will be closed down.

And he is not entirely off the track.

These numbers shared above are of the period before the merger of Dena Bank, Vijaya Bank and Bank of Baroda happened. Hence, if an RTI is requested next year, then thousands of more closed branches will be revealed.

We have already reported that 4000-5000 bank employees can be either asked to leave or relocated to different locations and banks, due to these mergers.

It can be tough for Govt to explain this, since Finance Minister has claimed that not even a single job will be lost.

We will keep you updated, as more details come in