New Delhi: Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman reviewed the performance of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) with their Chairmen and Managing Directors (CMDs) via virtual mode here on Tuesday and asked them not to rest on their achievements and that our collective efforts must strive towards supporting sectors that face interruption due to continued onslaught of Covid-19 pandemic.

Sitharaman also conveyed to the bankers to continue supporting the agriculture sector, farmers, retail sector and MSMEs. She noted that the business outlook is progressively improving in spite of the headwinds from global development and Omicron spread. The Finance Minister underlined that contact intensive sectors may require more support to help them fight against the pandemic.

On the credit demand front, the Finance Minister said that credit demand is expected to pick up on account of growth in retails segments, improvement in overall macroeconomic prospects and improving financial health of borrowers. During the review meeting, bankers pointed out that PSBs have observed an improvement in the repayment culture in the country. PSBs have performed well and, supported by various policy measures, provided the required impetus to the economy for coming out of the shackles of pandemic induced stress.

PSBs recorded net profit of Rs 31,820 crore in FY 2020-21, the highest in the last five financial years, and net profit of Rs 31,145 crore for the first half of FY 2021-22, almost equal to that of FY 2020-21.  PSBs have effected a recovery of Rs 5,49,327 crore during the last seven financial years. PSBs are adequately capitalized and CRAR of PSBs as on September 2021 is 14.4 per cent against regulatory requirement of 11.5 per cent including CCB.

In his address to the bankers, Union Minister of State Dr Bhagwat Karad said that PSBs are the power engines of our economy and congratulated the bankers for their performance during the pandemic times. Dr Karad said that moving with the times, banking has become more open and customer centric. /BI/v