By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Continuing the robust performance, the total business of the public sector banks (PSBs) in India rose from ₹ 203 lakh crore to ₹ 251 lakh crore from FY 2022–23 to FY 2024–25, a high-level meeting was told.
During the same period (FY 2022–23 to FY 2024–25), net NPAs of the PSBs declined sharply from 1.24% to 0.52%, Net Profit increased from ₹1.04 lakh crore to ₹1.78 lakh crore, and dividend payouts grew from ₹20,964 crore to ₹34,990 crore.
Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the meeting on Friday in New Delhi to review the performance of PSBs across key areas, including financial parameters, credit offtake, financial inclusion, customer service, grievance redressal, digital banking, and cyber security.
The Finance Minister was also informed that the PSBs are adequately capitalised, with their CRAR standing at 16.15% as of Mar-2025.
Sitharaman was apprised of the progress under the New Credit Assessment Model for MSMEs, launched on March 6, 2025, with 1.97 lakh MSME loans already sanctioned, amounting to ₹60,000 crore. Banks were directed to strengthen the implementation of the New Credit Assessment Model for MSMEs to broaden access to capital and expedite credit flow to small & medium businesses.
It was noted during the meeting that under the Stand Up India scheme, 2.28 lakh loans have been sanctioned worth ₹51,192 crore. Similarly, under the PM Vidya Lakshmi scheme, 6,682 applications have been sanctioned, amounting to ₹1,751 crore. Given the government’s commitment to supporting entrepreneurship and higher education through targeted credit initiatives, banks were directed by the FM to give greater focus to these schemes.
Union Finance Minister highlighted the importance of adequately staffing banks, emphasising that all existing and arising vacancies must be filled as soon as possible to deliver better service.
Banks were encouraged to scale up branch expansion in underserved areas like the North-east. FM underlined the need to strengthen the Business Correspondent (BC) network to ensure last-mile access to banking services, particularly in rural and remote areas.