Mumbai, Sep 5 (IANS) The board of Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Thursday gave an "in-principle approval" to merger with itself of Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and United Bank of India (UBI).

The board also approved the Rs 18,000 crore capital infusion, as announced by the government last week.

On Wednesday Moody' Investors Service updated its outlook on the PNB to positive from stable.

Centrum Broking had said, "Consolidation has generally been near-term detrimental to the stronger (acquiring) banks and an extended integration period remains a challenge."

At 3.15 p.m., the PNB scrips were trading 1.84 per cent higher at Rs 61 on the BSE.

--IANS ravi/sdr/pcj