The Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) have made great contribution in rebuilding the economy of the country. However, he has asked the bankers to get rid of their past scars of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) and clean-up their balance sheet at the earliest.
Speaking at the Quarterly Review Meeting of the PSBs, the Minister also assured them full support of his Government in this regard. “The Government will take necessary policy corrective measures wherever required,” he said.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of State for Finance, Jayant Sinha, Deputy Governor, RBI, Secretary (Financial Services) Ms Anjuli Chib Duggal, as well as Secretaries of various other Ministries of the Government of India, along with senior officers of the Ministry of Finance.
Initially, Anup Pujari, Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) discussed issues related to MSME sector, including financing by banks. The Secretary from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) briefed the meeting about the commitment of Banks to fund Renewable Energy Projects in the next five years and praised the efforts made by banks.
In addition to it, SBI was awarded for outstanding achievement. Nandita Chatterjee, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA ) articulated various issues related to enhancing credit flow to the urban poor and implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana; Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, briefed the participants about the utilisation of Special Fund of Rs 2000 crore set-up to provide affordable credit to designated food parks (including mega food parks) and food processing units located therein; Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, discussed the issue of implementation of the programme for Revival, Reform & Restructuring (RRR) package for the handloom sector and institutional credit to sericulture and Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Mahapatra, discussed the SHG Credit Linkage Plan under different schemes of the department.
