On 30 August 2019, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India would be merged with Punjab National Bank. The proposed merger would make Punjab National Bank the second largest public sector bank in the country with assets of and 11,437 branches. MD and CEO of United Bank, Ashok Kumar Pradhan, stated that the merged entity would begin functioning from 1 April 2020. The Union Cabinet approved the merger on 4 March 2020. Punjab National Bank announced that its board had approved the merger ratios the next day. Shareholders of Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank will receive 1,150 shares and 121 shares of Punjab National Bank, respectively, for every 1,000 shares they hold. The merge came into effect since 1 April 2020. Post merger, Punjab National Bank has become the second largest public sector bank in India  The Chairpersons (CMD) of the bank were as under: The bank offers a wide range of banking products and services such as deposit accounts, loans, debit cards, credit cards (with tie-up with SBI), Insurance products, ATMs, Internet banking, Mobile Banking, Self-banking halls, call centre, etc. The Bank has launched yet another people's participation in the planning process at grass root level essentially to tackle the maladies of poverty. The Grameen Projects venture aims to alleviate poverty plus identify the reasons responsible for the failure or success. OBC is already implementing a Grameen Project in Dehradun District (UK) and Hanumangarh District (Rajasthan). Formulated on the pattern of the Bangladesh Grameen Bank, the Scheme has a unique feature of disbursing small loans ranging from 75 (~US $1.50) onwards. The beneficiaries of the Grameen Project are mostly women. The Bank is engaged in providing training to rural folk in using locally available raw material to produce pickles, jams etc. This has provided self-employment and augmented income levels thus reforming lives of rural folk and encouraging cottage industries in rural areas. OBC launched yet another unique scheme christened 'The Comprehensive Village Development Programme' on the auspicious day of Baisakhi, the 13th of April 1997 at three villages in Punjab namely Rurki Kalan (District. Sangrur), Raje Majra (District. Ropar) and Khaira Majha (District. Jaladhar) and two villages in Haryana, namely Khunga (District.