Finance Minister meets heads of PSBs, reviews financial performance

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman on Saturday held a meeting with heads of public sector banks and reviewed their financial performance.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman on Saturday held a meeting with heads of public sector banks and reviewed their financial performance.

During the meeting, concerns related to cyber security and the risks on the financial sector were discussed, sources said.

Issues related to fraud and wilful defaulters and progress on the National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL) also came up for discussion, they said.

This is the probably last full review meeting before the presentation of Budget 2024-25 and general elections later next year.

On the performance front, PSU banks have earned a net profit of about ₹68,500 crore during the first six months of the current financial year.

During 2022-23, it said banks' balance sheets grew at a healthy pace, with both deposits and credit growth accelerating.

The Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPA) ratio of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) fell to a decade low of 3.9% at the end of March 2023 and further to 3.2% in September.