Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a meeting with public sector bank chiefs in the national capital on Friday to review the performance of the PSU banking space. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju and other officials from the department, and the managing directors and CEOs of several public sector lenders participated in the meeting. Several challenges facing the PSU banking space are expected to be discussed during the deliberations.
Directing the lenders to speed up their loan disbursements, the finance minister told the PSU bank chiefs to ensure that interest rate changes are transmitted more rapidly to the borrowers.
She expressed satisfaction at the containment of PSU banks’ overall non-performing assets (NPAs) at 0.52 per cent, as of March-end.
Besides, the minister also told them to ensure quality service and experience for the borrowers.
The meeting comes weeks after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) delivered a bigger-than-expected 50-basis-point cut in the key lending rate while changing the policy stance to ‘neutral’ from ‘accommodative’. The RBI also cut its cash reserve ratio (CRR) to boost the liquidity in the banking system.
There are 12 public sector banks in the system. Their overall profit reached a record Rs 1.78 lakh crore in the financial year ended March 31, 2025, marking 26 per cent growth over the corresponding period a year ago, data shows.
12 PSU banks in India | See list
These banks are:
- SBI
- PNB
- Canara Bank
- Bank of Baroda
- Union Bank of India
- Punjab & Sind Bank
- Indian Bank
- Bank of India
- Central Bank of India
- Bank of Maharashtra (86.46%)
- Indian Overseas Bank
- UCO Bank
The finance minister’s meeting with the PSU bank chiefs comes days before the onset of a new quarterly earnings season on Dalal Street.
How SBI, India’s largest lender by assets, fared in FY25
State Bank of India registered a net profit of Rs 70,901 crore in the financial year 2024-25, marking an increase of 16.1 per cent over the previous year.
Its operating profit crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark driven by operating income efficiency and contained operating expenses. It stood at rs 1,10,579 crore, up 17.9 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
The bank’s domestic net interest margin (NIM), a key measure of profitability, stood at 3.22 per cent for the financial year.
The bank improved its asset quality.
Its gross non-performing assets (NPAs) as a percentage of total loans came down to 1.82 per cent for FY25, 42 basis points lower than the previous year. Net NPAs were at 0.47 per cent, down by 10 basis points.
