Finance minister reviews performance of Public Sector Banks

Various financial parameters such as deposit mobilisation, digital payments and cyber security were discussed

Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a meeting to review the performance of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) on their financial parameters, deposit mobilisation, digital payments and cyber security framework, in addition to access to credit under financial inclusion and other emerging issues related to PSBs.

During the meeting it was noted that during FY24, the PSBs performed well across all financial parameters as evidenced by improved asset quality with Net NPAs (NNPAs) declining to 0.76%, sound capital adequacy of the banks at 15.55%, Net Interest Margin (NIM) of the banks at 3.22%, and highest ever net aggregate profit of Rs 1.45 lakh crore with the dividend of Rs 27830 crore to the shareholders. Improvements over various parameters have also enhanced the ability of PSBs to raise capital from the markets.

During deliberations on the deposit mobilisation, the Union Finance Minister stated that while the credit growth has picked up, mobilisation of deposits could further be improved to fund the credit growth sustainably and asked banks to make concerted efforts to garner deposits by conducting special drives.

FM advised banks to optimise the scope of resolution and recovery offered by NCLT and NARCL.

The issues related to digital payments and cyber security framework were also deliberated in the meeting. The Union Finance Minister advised that issues of cyber security should be seen from a systemic perspective and emphasised that a collaborative approach between banks, Government, regulators and security agencies is needed to put in place necessary mitigants against cyber-risks.

FM asked the banks to expeditiously implement the recent Budget announcements, including, a new credit assessment model for MSMEs based on digital footprints and cash-flows. Banks were also instructed by the Union Finance Minister to focus on further increasing credit flow to eligible beneficiaries under various Union Government initiatives like PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana and PM Vishwakarma Yojana.

The Union Finance Minister further advised the banks to ensure compliance with the Reserve Bank of Indias guidelines on the handover of security documents after closure of the loans and directed that there should not be any delay in handing over the documents to the customer.

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