1. Directions: In the following passage, some of the words have been left out, each of which is indicated by a letter. Find the suitable word from the options given against each letter and fill up the blanks with appropriate words to make the paragraph meaningful.
In its bid to create “NextGen banks”, the finance ministry has decided to merge 10 public sector banks into four. The merger of United Bank of India (UBI) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) with Punjab National Bank (PNB) will give birth to India’s second largest public sector bank after the State Bank of India (SBI). The PNB merger, which will make the bank bigger than Bank of Baroda (BoB), will come into ____ A ____ from April 1 next year, according to a recent PTI report. Hit by a $2 billion fraud and money ____ B ____ case centering around fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, the merged PNB’s deposit market share will jump to 8% as compared to its standalone market share of 5.2% as of March 2019.
PNB’s total business after the merger will increase to Rs. 17.95 lakh crore. Together, the merged ____ C ____ will have 11,437 branches. Amongst all public sector banks, PNB will be smaller in size only after SBI. PNB will also have the second-largest branch ____ D ____. From April 1, when the merger comes into force, PNB is likely to have a new name. Although bank unions have called for strike to protest against the merger, banks have made it clear that there will no ____ E ____ of staff in the merged entity, and also ruled out the possibility of bringing in ____ F ____ Retirement Scheme. PNB’s CEO and MD Sunil Mehta said every employee is going to gain from the merger.
Which of the following words should fill in the blank (A) to make a contextually correct and meaningful sentence?
