Merger negative for Vijaya Bank, BoB; don't rush to buy PSBs, say analysts

The three state-owned banks ‐ Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank ‐ saw a mixed reaction at the bourses on Tuesday, a day after the government proposed to amalgamate them into a combined entity.

The largest of the three, Bank of Baroda, tanked over 10 per cent in intra-day deals to Rs 116 levels on the NSE, Dena Bank hit its upper circuit limit for the day of 20 per cent at Rs 19.05. Vijaya Bank, too, moved up over 2 per cent to hit an intra-day high of Rs 66 on the NSE. In comparison, the Nifty 50 was trading flat.

While calling it a step in the right direction, analysts say this merger could be a game changer for the PSU banking space and throws up the possibility of public sector banks (PSBs) being ultimately consolidated into seven large entities going ahead.

“The move is a step in the right direction. Vijaya Bank is concentrated in southern India where Bank of Baroda does not have much presence. Dena Bank has a focus in Maharashtra. Such a strategy would also minimise the need for retrenching a significant number of employees and also for shutting down of a large number of branches as the concentration of these three banks are largely unique in terms of geographies and they would complement each other,” says G Chokkalingam, founder and managing director at Equinomics Research.