CHENNAI, Sept 1 - Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday allayed fears of job losses following the proposed merger of public sector banks, saying not even one employee shall be removed following the amalgamation.
�Absolutely, ill informed. I want to assure every union in every one of these banks to please recall what I have said last Friday. When we spoke about amalgamation of banks I have very clearly underlined the fact that there shall not be one employee removed. Not at all�, she told reporters here.
She was replying to a question on the bank employees unions opposing the merger plan on the ground it would lead to loss of jobs.
Sitharaman on Friday unveiled a mega plan to merge 10 public sector banks into four as part of plans to create fewer and stronger global-sized lenders as the government looked to boost economic growth from a five-year low.
Sitharaman, who was here to address officers of Customs, Goods and Service Tax and Income Tax department, said there would not be any closure of banks and no bank was being asked to do something new.
�More capital is being given to banks and they will continue to do more of what they were doing earlier,�she said. � PTI
