Multiple banks went through a merger last year, with ten state run-banks being merged into four. This came into effect last April, and now, a year later, cheque-books and passbooks of over half a dozen banks which went through a merger will become invalid from April 1, 2021.
The banks affected by these changes include Dena Bank, Vijaya Bank, Corporation Bank, Andhra Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, United Bank and Allahabad Bank. After the merger, chequebooks and passbooks of only the single entity became valid. Customers of individual banks have been treated as customers of the banks with which these merged.
The merger was announced in August 2019. Dena and Vijaya Bank were merged with Bank of Baroda with effect from April 1, 2019. Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India were merged with Punjab National Bank (PNB). Syndicate Bank merged with Canara Bank, Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank merged with Union Bank of India, and Allahabad Bank merged with Indian Bank.
For the banks that got merged, there were multiple changes for customers — a change in account number, IFSC, MICR code, branch address, cheque-book, passbooks in order to represent the new entity.
Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda have already announced that the existing cheque-books of OBC, United Bank of India, Vijaya Bank, and Dena Bank will be valid only till March 31, 2021.
Customers of some other merged banks can also operate their existing cheque-books and passbook only till March 31. New chequebooks and passbooks will be valid from April 1.
In the case of Syndicate Bank, Canara Bank has said that the existing cheque-books of the Syndicate Bank account holders will be valid till June 30, 2021.
With IANS inputs