There is no proposal under consideration before the government on the merger or consolidation of public sector banks (PSBs) at present, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said on Monday. Chaudhary, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, said the amalgamation of PSBs helped create stronger competitive banks with economies of scale and scope while enabling the realisation of wide-ranging synergies. Leveraging networks, better access to low-cost deposits, increased ability to support larger ticket-size lending, and competitive operations by virtue of greater financial capacity have provided the amalgamated banks a substantial rise in customer base, market reach and operational efficiency, he added.