Speculation is rife about a mega-merger of nine smaller PSBs into three anchors—Bank of Maharashtra, Punjab & Sind Bank, and UCO Bank into SBI; Bank of Baroda, Central Bank, and Indian Overseas Bank into PNB; and Union Bank, Indian Bank, and Bank of India into Canara Bank. This could happen by FY26 to create globally competitive entities under Viksit Bharat 2047, reducing the number of PSBs from 12 to 3. Whispers attributes this to Finance Ministry’s pressure for consolidation to tackle NPAs and boost scale.