Jaitley summons PSB heads to review annual performance on June 6

Even as public sector banks are preparing for a zero-tolerance towards NPA after cleansing their slates full of murk during last three quarters, union finance minister, ArunJaitley has summoned all the heads of the PSBs and state-run financial institutions for a meeting on Monday, June 6 in the national capital. “During the one day meeting the finance minister would review the overall performance of PSBs during the financial year 2015-16 as well as with regard to the flow of credit to agriculture, insurance and MSE sectors among others. Finance Minister will also review the progress and performance of the new initiatives of the present government schemes including Stand Up India, MUDRA, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan JyotiBimaYojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha BimaYojana and Atal Pension Yojana among others,” said a statement issued by the finance ministry. According to the statement, issues relation to housing loan, medium and small enterprises credit, financial inclusions and literacy etc are also likely to be discussed in the review meeting. “The finance minister will also review the performance of the PSBs with regard to the new projects and proposals, stalled projects and possible remedial measures among others. Along with the CEOs of the PSBs and FIs, the meeting will also be attended by Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance and AnjulyChib Duggal, secretary of Department of Financial Services and senior officers of the ministry of finance among others,” added the statement.

It may be added here that gross bad loans of the state run banks have been increased from Rs 2, 67, 065 lakh crore in March 2015 to Rs 3,61,731 lakh crore in December, 2015—something which has been not only troubling the affected banks but also the country’s apex bank and the government.