Nearly half of the listed banks, including those from the private sector, have recorded a drop in profit in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
"Twenty out of 39 Indian listed banks have recorded a drop in profit in the June quarter on a year-on-year basis," Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Among public sector banks, Bank of India recorded the sharpest drop, at 133.7 per cent, followed by Indian Overseas Bank (105 per cent), Dena Bank (81.4 per cent) and Punjab National Bank (50.9 per cent).
In the private space, Dhanlaxmi Bank's net profit plunged a whopping 852 per cent followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank (55.8 per cent) and South Indian Bank (48.4 per cent).
Sinha said the government has been taking various steps to improve the financial health of public sector banks.
"These measures include governance measures such as steps to improve board level deliberations by improving the quality of the board, separation of the post of the managing director and chairman, operational measures such as complete operational autonomy with no interference and measures to improve capital situation of banks... ," he said.
Replying to another question on whether the government is considering a proposal of offering lower interest rate on small saving schemes, Sinha answered in the negative.
In another reply, Sinha said there is no proposal to raise the retirement age of chairman-cum-managing director and executive director of public sector financial institutions, including banks.
