IFSC codes of Oriental Bank of Commerce, United Bank of India, Syndicate Bank, Andhra Bank, Corporation Bank and Allahabad Bank will change soon. Account holders in these banks should start using the new IFSC codes from the specified dates to ensure that their financial transactions don’t fail/get stuck.
In August 2019, finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman announced the consolidation of 10 public sector banks into four mega state-owned ones. The amalgamation of these banks into four mega PSU banks came into effect in April 2020. From this year (i.e., 2021), the IFSC codes and MICR codes of the amalgamating banks will be discontinued and the codes used by the anchor bank will replace them. Savings account holders of the amalgamating banks will have to make note of the new IFSC and MICR codes.
Here is a look at the dates by when the new IFSC and MICR codes will come into effect.
Bank mergers
In a merger, there is an anchor bank and an amalgamating bank or banks, where the latter gets merged with the former. These are the banks that have been merged: Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India have been merged with Punjab National Bank (PNB); Syndicate Bank has been merged with Canara Bank; Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank with Union Bank of India; and Allahabad Bank with Indian Bank.
Dates till when IFSC/MICR codes of merging banks will be valid
| Anchor bank | Amalgamating bank | Date IFSC code will be discontinued |
| Punjab National Bank | Oriental Bank of Commerce | April 1, 2021 |
| United Bank of India | ||
| Union Bank of India | Andhra Bank | April 1, 2021 |
| Corporation Bank | ||
| Indian Bank | Allahabad Bank | May 1, 2021 |
| Canara Bank | Syndicate Bank | July 1, 2021 |
| Bank of Baroda | Vijaya Bank, Dena Bank | March 1, 2021 |
April 1, 2021: According to the Union Bank of India website, the existing IFSC codes of the erstwhile Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank will be discontinued from April 1, 2021. From April 1, the new IFSC codes will be valid; the IFSC codes will begin with UBINOB for Andhra Bank customers and UBINO9 for Corporation bank customers.
April 1, 2021:According to the PNB website, post March 31, 2021 customers of the erstwhile Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India will have to use the new IFSC and MICR codes for NEFT and RTGS transfers.
May 1, 2021: According to a customer care representative of Indian Bank that ET Online spoke to, the current IFSC codes of the erstwhile Allahabad Bank will be discontinued on May 1, 2021.
July 1, 2021: “This is to inform that after merger of Syndicate Bank with Canara Bank, all eSyndicate IFSC codes starting with SYNB have been changed. All the IFSC starting with SYNB will be disabled W.E.F 01.07.2021,” Canara Bank states on its website… ReadMore>>
Source : economictimes