New Delhi, March 23 -- The finance ministry on Monday said there is no proposal at present to merge or consolidate public sector banks, even as it noted that past amalgamations have helped create larger, more competitive lenders with improved efficiency and scale.

"Leveraging of networks, better access to low-cost deposits, increased ability to support larger ticket-size lending and competitive operations by virtue of greater financial capacity has provided the amalgamated banks a substantial rise in customer base, market reach and operational efficiency," minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

"Synergy was also gained due to increased scope of operations, and improvement in cost efficie...