The largest rewrite of the banking history and merger's cultural traps

Govt's focus on technological compatibility over cultural is set to make the largest rewrite of the banking history a complex job

In a remote corner of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, the first rural bank of India has recently changed its nameplate. The changes at Prathama Bank, which literally means First Bank, also carries the signature of some of the large scale changes in the Indian banking sector. 

On August 30, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the merger of 10 of India’s state-owned banks into four groups. Taking into account another merger made in September last year, the number of banks has come down to 12 from 20 after the minister’s announcements. 

The headlines in Delhi were about the big-ticket changes. The changes in