Union Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman chairs meeting to review performance of Public Sector Banks
Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a meeting today to review the performance of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) on various financial health parameters for the financial year 2022-23.
The meeting was also attended by Union Minister of State for Finance Dr Bhagwat KisanraoKarad; Finance Secretary and Secretary Expenditure Dr T.V. Somanathan; Secretary, D/o Financial Services (DFS) Dr Vivek Joshi; Secretary, DIPAM, Shri TuhinKanta Pandey; Secretary D/o Public Enterprises Shri Ali Raza Rizvi; Secretary, M/o Corporate Affairs Shri Manoj Gohil; Secretary, D/o Revenue Shri Sanjay Malhotra; Secretary, M/o Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Manoj Joshi; Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Dr V. Anantha Nageswaran; Chairman, State Bank of India, Shri Dinesh Khara; and MDs & CEOs of Public Sector Banks #PSBs besides senior officials of DFS.
During the review meeting, discussionswere held with the heads of PSBs on the positive macro trends, improved business sentiments, ‘Twin balance sheet advantage’and performance of PSBs.
All the major financial parametersviz., credit deployment, profitability, asset quality, capital adequacy etc. indicate that the performance of PSBs has significantly improved. They’re adequately capitalised, resilient, and have sound financial health.
It was noted that the Asset quality of PSBs has improved significantly with gross NPAs at 4.97% and net NPAs at 1.24% in March 2023. During FY 2022-23, PSBs earned a record aggregate net profit of around ₹1.05 lakh crore, almost triplefrom net profits earned in FY 2013-14. Strengthened by high capital adequacy of 15.53%CRAR (comparable to major economies of the world), clean balance sheets supported by a healthy provision coverage (90.68%), and improved resilience, PSBs are well positioned to support the credit needs of the productive sectors of thegrowing economy.
In their assessment of the overall situation, bankers were of the view that with strong financial health, they are comfortably placed to withstand any macroeconomic shock.
Smt. Sitharaman emphasised banks’ adherence to the regulatory framework by focusing on risk management, and diversification of business base. The business outlook is progressively improving in spite of the headwinds from recent global banking sector developments.
