New Delhi: No public sector bank has faced any loss in the April-December period of the current fiscal year, and clocked a collective net profit of Rs 48,874 crore during this period, the government said in Parliament Tuesday.
“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,” Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
Responding to a query on profit earned by PSBs since 2010, the minister citing the data from the Reserve Bank, said the public sector banks earned a combined net profit of Rs 31,820 crore in 2020-21.
However, there were collective losses for five straight years during 2015-16 to 2019-20.
The highest amount of net loss was registered in 2017-18 at Rs 85,370 crore, 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.
During the period from 2009-10 to 2014-15, the PSBs were earning profits on their books.
When asked if the number of branches of PSBs has decreased over time, Karad said : “No”.
During the period from March 31, 2010 to March 31, 2021, he said the number of branches of PSBs have increased from 58,650 (including 13,596 metropolitan and 14,959 semi-urban branches) to 84,694 (including 16,369 metropolitan and 23,347 semi-urban branches).
In a separate reply on steps being taken by the government to encourage adoption of digital payments by customers, Karad said “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 said banks have been advised by the RBI not to levy any charges on savings bank account holders for funds transfer done through NEFT system which are initiated online like internet banking or though mobile apps of banks, with effect from January 1, 2020.
Also, any charge, including merchant discount rate, shall not be applicable on or after January 1, 2020 on payment made through prescribed electronic modes such as RuPay debit card, BHIM-UPI and BHIM-UPI QR code.
PTI