New Delhi, Mar 14 (IANS): From April 1, 2021, cheque-books and passbooks of over half a dozen banks which went through a merger will become invalid.

The banks affected by these changes include Dena Bank, Vijaya Bank, Corporation Bank, Andhra Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, United Bank and Allahabad Bank.

After the merger, for obvious reasons cheque books and passbooks of only one entity can be valid.

Dena and Vijaya Bank were merged with Bank of Baroda with effect from April 1, 2019. Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India were merged with Punjab National Bank (PNB).

Syndicate Bank merged with Canara Bank, Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank merged with Union Bank of India, and Allahabad Bank merged with Indian Bank.

For the consumers, there many noteworthy changes. For the banks that got merged, - account number, IFSC, MICR code, branch address, cheque-book, passbooks will also undergo a change to represent the new entity.

Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda have already announced that the existing cheque-books of OBC, United Bank of India, Vijaya Bank, and Dena Bank will be valid only till March 31.

Customers of some other merged banks can operate their existing cheque-books and passbook only till March 31. New cheque-books, passbooks will be valid from April 1.

In the case of Syndicate Bank, Canara Bank has said that the existing cheque-books of the Syndicate Bank account holders will be valid till June 30, 2021.