Public Sector Banks Meet: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold a meeting with the heads of public sector banks, will review the implementation of government schemes.

In the first six months of the current financial year 2023-24, public sector banks have made a total profit of Rs 68,500 crore. In the meeting to be held on Saturday, the Finance Minister along with the CMDs of the banks will review the progress of the banks in achieving the targets set for various government schemes including Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Kisan Credit Card, Stand-up India, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana. It is believed that this is the last review meeting before the presentation of the interim budget for the financial year 2024-25 and the general elections to be held next year. Measures to improve customer service and cyber security will also be discussed in this meeting. 

Finance Minister will also discuss financial inclusion, credit growth, asset quality and business growth of banks for the next financial year. Apart from this, the status of NPA and loan recovery of banks will also be discussed. According to RBI data, the gross NPA of banks has decreased in the last three years. Gross NPA was Rs 8,35,051 crore on March 31, 2021, which has reduced to Rs 7,42,397 crore on March 31, 2022 and Rs 5,71,544 crore on March 31, 2023. Last week, the Finance Ministry has asked the heads of public sector banks to monitor the top 20 IBC related matters. During the meeting with MDs and CEOs of public sector banks, Financial Affairs Secretary Vivek Joshi asked to review the top 20 cases every month so that they can be resolved. Read