No Public Sector Bank Suffered Loss in Last 3 Quarters Says Government

The government announced in Parliament on Tuesday that no public sector bank suffered a loss during the current fiscal year’s April-December period, resulting in a collective net profit of Rs 48,874 crore.

“No PSB has suffered losses in the current financial year up to December 31, 2021. During the said period of the first three quarters of the current financial year, all the PSBs have registered net profit of Rs 48,874 crore,”  Bhagwat Karad, Minister of State for Finance, stated in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

In response to a question about the profit earned by PSBs since 2010, the minister said, citing Reserve Bank data, that the public sector banks earned a combined net profit of Rs 31,820 crore in 2020-21.

However, from 2015-16 to 2019-20, there were five consecutive years of collective losses.

The highest net loss was Rs 85,370 crore in 2017-18, followed by Rs 66,636 crore in 2018-19, Rs 25,941 crore in 2019-20, Rs 17,993 crore in 2015-16, and Rs 11,389 crore in 2016-17.

Profits were made on the books by the PSBs from 2009-10 to 2014-15.

When asked if the number of PSB branches has decreased over time, Karad replied, “No.”

He stated that the number of PSB branches increased from 58,650 (including 13,596 metropolitan and 14,959 semi-urban branches) to 84,694 between March 31, 2010 and March 31, 2021. (including 16,369 metropolitan and 23,347 semi-urban branches).

In a separate response to a question about steps the government is taking to encourage customer adoption of digital payments, Karad stated that “promotion of digital payment is one of the priorities of the government to facilitate hassle-free and seamless banking transactions”.

Among the various steps taken by the government, he stated that banks have been advised by the RBI not to levy any charges on savings bank account holders for funds transfers done through the NEFT system, which are initiated online such as internet banking or through bank mobile apps, beginning January 1, 2020.

Furthermore, any charge, including merchant discount rate, shall not be applicable on or after January 1, 2020, for payments made via prescribed electronic modes such as RuPay debit card, BHIM-UPI, and BHIM-UPI QR code.