Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said public sector banks’ (PSBs) bad loans came down to Rs 7.27 lakh crore at the end of September 2019, on host of measures taken by the government to improve financial health of the banks in the country. “The government has instituted comprehensive reforms in PSBs to improve, governance, underwriting, monitoring and recovery, and has leveraged technology in all aspects of banking, resulting in reduction in their NPAs,” Sitharaman said in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha. She said bad loans of PSBs stood at Rs 7.27 lakh crore at the end of September 2019, down from Rs 8.96 lakh crore at the end of March 2018. “Record recovery of Rs 2.03 lakh crore over the one-and-half year period ending September 2019, 12 out of 18 PSBs reporting profit in the first half of the current financial year, and the highest provision coverage ratio in seven-and-half years,” she said.

(Economic Times)