FM Sitharaman To Meet PSBs’ Heads, Review Progress For Revival Of Economy

She will during the meet review the lenders’ performance and progress made by them on various government schemes for revival of the economy battered by the pandemic, PTI reported.

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to meet the heads of public sector banks (PSBs) in the national capital on April 23.

The meeting would set the agenda for the current financial year.

She will during the meet review the lenders’ performance and progress made by them on various government schemes for revival of the economy battered by the pandemic, PTI reported.

No PSBs faced any loss in the April-December period during the last fiscal year and clocked a collective net profit of Rs 48,874 crore during the same period.

In a bid to improve the financial health of PSBs, the Central government implemented a comprehensive 4Rs strategy -- recognition of NPAs transparently, resolution and recovery of value from stressed accounts, recapitalising of PSBs, and reforms in PSBs and the wider financial ecosystem -- for a responsible and clean system.

Besides, comprehensive steps were taken by the government under the 4Rs strategy to reduce NPAs of PSBs.

The ruling dispensation has, as part of the strategy, infused Rs 3,10,997 crore to recapitalise banks during the last five financial years -- from 2016-17 to 2020-21, out of which Rs 34,997 crore were sourced through budgetary allocation and Rs 2,76,000 crore through issuance of recapitalisation bonds to these banks.

Sources said the banks, during this first full review meeting after presentation of the Budget 2022-23, would be urged to sanction loans for productive sectors to accelerate the economy’s revival.

There would be a comprehensive review of various segments, sources said, and progress in government schemes, including the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS).

The ECLGS was extended by a year till March 2023 in the Budget.

Besides, the guarantee cover for the scheme was expanded by Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 5 lakh crore.

In addition, the coverage, scope and extent of benefits under ECLGS 3.0 pertaining to hospitality, travel, tourism and civil aviation sectors were also expanded.

The credit limit for eligible borrowers too was increased to 50 percent of their fund-based credit outstanding from the 40 percent earlier. The enhanced limit is subject to a maximum of Rs 200 crore per borrower.

The loans worth Rs 3.19 lakh crore have been sanction till March 25, 2022, since its launch earlier in May 2020.