FinMin’s first review meeting with PSB heads post-Union Budget deferred to March 5

The finance ministry has deferred the performance review meeting with heads of public sector banks (PSBs) by a day to March 5, 2025. The meeting, to be chaired by Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju, will review the financial performance and progress of financial inclusion schemes, among other topics.

Earlier, the Department of Financial Services had fixed March 4, 2025, for the meeting. This will be the first meeting after the Union Budget 2025-26 presentation in the Parliament. The 12 PSBs in India posted their highest-ever net profit of ₹1.29 lakh crore in the April-December period of the current fiscal year (2024-25), marking an annual increase of 31.3 per cent.

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FinMin's performance review of PSBs

During the period under review, PSBs' performance showed significant improvement in key financial parameters, like record net profit growth, improved asset quality, and the build-up of adequate capital buffers.

The finance ministry said that PSBs' better asset quality is visible from a significantly low net non-performing asset (NPA) ratio of 0.59 per cent (aggregate net NPA outstanding of ₹61,252 crore). The PSBs reported a business growth of 11 per cent (year-on-year), with improved deposit growth of 9.8 per cent. During the period, PSBs' total business reached ₹242.27 lakh crore.

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In December 2024, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that Indian banks' profitability improved for the sixth consecutive year in 2023-24, and their gross bad debts or non-performing assets (NPAs) declined to a 13-year low of 2.7 per cent. According to a report released by the RBI, banks' financial position has stayed robust, marked by the sustained expansion in loans and deposits.

India's macro fundamentals have boosted the performance and soundness of the banking and non-banking financial sectors. "Banks’ profitability rose for the sixth consecutive year in 2023-24 and continued to rise in H1:2024-25 with the return on assets (RoA) at 1.4 per cent and return on equity (RoE) at 14.6 per cent," said RBI in its Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2023-24.

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