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The government has taken various reforms following which asset quality of public sector banks has improved significantly with gross NPA ratio declining from the peak of 14.6 per cent in March 2018 to 5.53 per cent in December 2022, Parliament was informed on Monday. All PSBs are in profit with aggregate profit being Rs 66,543 crore in 2021-22, and that further increased to Rs 70,167 crore in first nine months of current financial year, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat K Karad said in a written reply to Lok Sabha. At the same time, resilience has increased with provision coverage ratio of PSBs rising from 46 per cent to 89.9 per cent in December 2022, he said, adding capital adequacy ratio of PSBs improved significantly from 11.5 per cent in March 2015 to 14.5 per cent in December 2022. Total market cap of PSBs (excluding IDBI Bank, which was categorised as private sector bank in January 2019) increased from Rs 4.52 lakh crore in March 2018 to Rs 10.63 lakh crore in December ..
As part of the financial inclusion drive, public sector banks will open about 300 brick-and-mortar branches in the unbanked areas of various states by December 2022. These new branches will cover all remaining unbanked villages with a population of more than 3,000, according to sources. A Maximum number of 95 branches will be opened in Rajasthan followed by 54 in Madhya Pradesh. The public sector banks will open 38 branches in Gujarat, 33 in Maharashtra, 32 in Jharkhand and 31 in Uttar Pradesh. The progress with regard to the opening of branches in the rural areas was reviewed in the recent meeting of heads of public sector banks with the Financial Services Secretary last month. Banks have been asked to open branches at allocated locations by the respective State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) by December 2022, the sources said. Bank of Baroda will open 76 branches, while State Bank of India will establish 60 branches. Financial Inclusion is a national priority of the governmen
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday urged public sector banks to ensure smooth flow of credit to Kisan Credit Card (KCC) holders to boost rural incomes. During the half-day long meeting with the CEOs of public sector banks, she also asked them to help Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) in technology improvement. After the meeting, Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala said the finance minister reviewed the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme and discussed how institutional credit can be made available to the segment. "The meeting was presided over by the finance minister and the issuance of Kisan Credit Card to all those engaged in fishing and dairying sector was discussed. "In another session on Regional Rural Banks, it was decided that the sponsor bank should help them in digitalisation and technology improvement," Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat K Karad said. RRBs, which play an important role in agriculture credit, are sponsored by publi