Along with better performance, public sector banks have also reduced bad loans. Meanwhile, the government is busy making new preparations for privatization. A review of the list of public sector banks is being planned by representatives of the Reserve Bank of India along with the Finance Ministry.
According to a Live Mint report, a new panel with representatives from the Finance Ministry, NITI Aayog and the Reserve Bank of India is being considered to prepare a new list of candidates for privatization. NITI Aayog recommended privatization of two public sector banks and its suggestions have also been placed before the Finance Ministry. These two banks are said to be Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank.
It has been said in the report that these two banks were discussed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the budget of 2021-22. Along with this, privatization of IDBI Bank and a general insurance company was also announced. However, due to some reasons this plan was halted and now its exercise is expected to start again in view of 2024.
Consider making a panel
The central government is considering a panel to identify some of the medium and small-sized banks for privatization. According to the report, the panel can also decide how much stake the government will reduce in banks. Besides, a decision can also be taken on the weightage given to banks having better financial parameters and reducing bad loans.
The government had merged the banks
Before the proposed privatization process, banks have merged weak banks into bigger banks to strengthen small banks. A total of 10 public sector banks were merged from 1 April 2020. There are currently 12 public sector banks in India, up from 27 in 2017.
Now these are 12 PSB banks
The 12 PSB banks include State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Punjab and Sindh Bank, Indian Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Central Bank of India, UCO Bank and Indian Overseas. Banks are included.
