Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that the government’s continuous efforts to reduce NPAs and further strengthen the health of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) are “now showing tangible results”.

All the twelve PSBs put together declared net profit of ₹25,685 crore in second quarter ended September 30 and the aggregate net profit for the first half this fiscal stood at ₹40,991 crore. This was up by 50 per cent and 31.6 per cent, respectively on a year-on-year basis, Sitharaman tweeted on Monday.

While the State Bank of India (SBI) reported 74 per cent jump in net profit in Q2 to ₹13,265 crore, Canara Bank recorded 89 per cent increase in profit to ₹2,525 crore. Bank of Baroda reported 58.70 per cent increase in profit at ₹3,312.42 crore, Sitharaman’s tweet highlighted.

RIDING RETAIL LOAN DEMAND

Most large public sector banks showed good growth in bottomline in the September 2022 quarter on the back of strong credit growth (surge in retail loans demand). Encouraged by the retail loans demand, several banks have upped their overall credit growth aim for the current fiscal.

For instance, SBI — the country’s largest commercial bank — has increased its loan growth expectations for current fiscal at 14-16 per cent for FY23 from earlier estimates of 10-12 per cent. SBI reported its highest ever quarterly profit in the just-ended September quarter.

Bank of Baroda, another large public sector bank, recorded 15 per cent growth in domestic advances year-on-year as of end September 2022 at ₹ 7.16 lakh crore. Even relatively smaller sized public sector bank like Punjab & Sind Bank has set its sight on 15 percent overall credit growth from a level about 3-4 per cent achieved last fiscal.

There has been robust increase in retail loans especially in September 2022 (festive demand) across categories for purchase of vehicles, consumer durables and homes (which account for 50% of all retail loans). Personal loans, which account for 26 percent of aggregate bank loans to individuals, grew at a faster clip of about 24 per cent as of September 23, RBI data showed.

India’s total retail loans stood at about ₹ 37 lakh crore as of end September 2022.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had recently said at an industry event “As per the high-frequency indicators for the recent months, private consumption — especially urban demand — has remained healthy”.

comment COMMENT NOW