FM Sitharaman asks PSBs to push deposit drive by taking 'concerted efforts' following RBI's consistent warnings

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a meeting to review performances of Public Sector Banks in Delhi on Monday. The meeting was also attended by Dr Vivek Joshi, Secretary, M Nagaraju, Secretary-Designate, Department of Financial Services, Heads of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and senior officials of Department of Financial Services (DFS).

Various financial parameters like Deposit Mobilisation, Digital Payments and Cyber Security, Implementation of new credit products/ schemes and Access to Credit under Financial Inclusion were discussed in detail.
During the meeting it was noted that during FY24, the PSBs performed well across all financial parameters as evidenced by improved asset quality with Net NPAs (NNPAs) declining to 0.76 per cent, sound capital adequacy of the banks at 15.55 per cent, Net Interest Margin (NIM) of the banks at 3.22 per cent, and highest ever net aggregate profit of Rs. 1.45 lakh crore with the dividend of Rs 27,830 crore to the shareholders. Improvements over various parameters have also enhanced the ability of PSBs to raise capital from the markets.

Deposits have been growing 300-400 basis points lower than the credit growth in the last few months, creating an asset-liability mismatch for banks.

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Sitharaman advised PSBs to carry out special drives to garner deposits and to focus on efficient customer service delivery and have connect with customers, especially in rural and