Arun Jaitley to meet CEOs of Public Sector Banks and Financial Institutions

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will review credit off take in the economy with the chief executive officers (CEOs) of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and Financial Institutions (FIs) on March 5. He will also discuss achievement under priority sector lending (PSL) and progress made under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) with the banks.

The review meeting will also focus on taking forward the intention of the Department of Financial Services to improve the performance of the PSBs and Financial Institutions through steps like the recent additional infusion of Rs 6,990 crore in Public Sector Banks on the basis of performance measured by return on assets/equity. This year, the government has adopted new criteria in which the banks which are more efficient would only be rewarded with extra capital for their equity so that they can further strengthen their position.

This will strengthen the balance sheet of the PSU banks and enable them to increase financing of major projects in the country.

For the current fiscal, the government has allocated Rs 11,200 crore for bank capitalisation. The government has infused Rs 58,600 crore between 2011 to 2014 in the state-owned banks.