{
  "id": 8154592,
  "title": "Report of 9 PSU bank mergers is fake: PIB",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/report-of-9-psu-bank-mergers-is-fake-pib",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-18T01:54:16.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Economic Times",
    "slug": "the-economic-times",
    "url": "https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/new-updates/9-psu-banks-including-canara-bank-indian-bank-to-merge-with-sbi-pnb-bank-of-baroda-pib-debunks-fake-gazette/articleshow/134323693.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A viral social media post claiming nine public sector banks would merge into three larger entities has been deemed fake by the Press Information Bureau’s Fact Check unit. The document, designed to appear as an official Gazette of India notification, specifically mentioned Indian Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Central Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, Punjab & Sind Bank, Canara Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, and UCO Bank. The purported merger would have resulted in State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, and Bank of Baroda becoming the new entities. The PIB Fact Check unit dismissed the document as false, clarifying that it is a fabricated notification.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}