2nd edition of Gyan Sangam to start next week, NPAs in focus

Mounting bad loans and declining profitability of state-owned banks will be the focus of the second edition of Gyan Sangam, a retreat of heads of public sector financial institutions, beginning March 4.
The two-day conference, to be attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal and other senior finance ministry officials, would also discuss consolidation in the banking sector, sources said.
The event at Gurgaon near Delhi may not be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi this time, sources said, adding that so far confirmation has not come from the PMO.

Banking sector is grappling with rising non-performing assets (NPAs), which are expected to rise further in the coming quarters.
Gross NPAs of public sector banks was Rs 3.60 lakh crore at December end, up from Rs 2.67 lakh crore at the end of March 2015.
In case of private banks, gross NPAs stood at Rs 38,396 crore at December end, up from Rs 31,576 crore at March 2015 end.

Due to mounting bad loans, profitability of public sector banks is being affected.
In the third quarter alone, many leading public sector banks, including Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and IDBI Bank, reported their highest ever quarterly losses aggregating to over Rs 12,000 crore, while others like SBI and PNB witnessed sharp erosion in profits.

The first Gyan Sangam was held last year in Pune where Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed heads of PSU banks and insurers, and financial sector regulators, promising no interference from any government functionary in their commercial decisions.
There were focussed group discussions on six topics which resulted in specific decisions on optimising capital digitising processes, strengthening risk management, improving managerial performance and financial inclusion.
In this edition of Gyan Sangam, various decisions taken at the last edition would be reviewed, along with the financial performances of the banks and financial institutions.
Participants will also deliberate on two focus areas of the government -- financial inclusion and direct benefit transfer scheme.

It is expected that there would be extensive review of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the government's flagship financial inclusion programme.
Deposits in accounts opened under the PMJDY programme have crossed the Rs 30,000 crore mark. As many as 20.38 crore bank accounts were opened under PMJDY as on January 20.
Besides, progress with regard to Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) would also be reviewed.