Arun Jaitley to review state-run banks performance on Monday

Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley (Photo: IANS/PIB)

New Delhi – Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will on Monday hold a quarterly performance review with the heads of public sector banks (PSB) at a time when these are severely stressed by bad loans and have incurred record losses in the last quarter, an official statement here said.

A Finance Ministry statement on Friday said Jaitley 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.”

The minister will also review the progress on the government’s new initiatives, including Stand Up India, MUDRA Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Surkasha Bima Yojana and Atal Pension Yojana among others, it added.

Jaitley will also take stock of the performance of PSBs with regard to the new projects and proposals and stalled projects.

Besides, issues relating to housing loan, medium and small enterprises credit, financial inclusion and literacy are also likely to be discussed, the ministry said

Along with the heads of state-run banks and financial institutions, the meeting will also be attended by Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, Department of Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal, and senior officials, the statement added.

Gross non performing assets (NPAs), or stressed loans, of PSBs rose from Rs 267,065 lakh crore in March 2015 to Rs 361,731 lakh crore in December.

As a proportion, the gross NPAs increased from 5.43 per cent of advances as on March 2015, to 7.30 per cent as on December-end.