New Delhi:Government on Monday decided that the Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena may consider their amalgamation.

The envisaged amalgamation will be the first-ever three-way consolidation of banks in India with a combined business of Rs 14.82 lakh crore, making it the country’s third largest bank, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told a news conference here.

He said now the board of all these three banks would meet and chalk out a strategy in this regard.

The consolidation will help create a strong globally competitive bank with economies of scale and enable realisation of wide ranging synergies, he said.

The Alternative Mechanism chairperson Mr Jaitley, Cabinet Ministers – Piyush Goyal and Nirmala Sitharaman met today and took the decision in this regard.