Efforts to cut NPAs yielding fruits: FM

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the central government's efforts to reduce bad loans are yielding result with 12 public-sector banks reporting a 50 per cent jump in combined net profit at Rs25,685 crore in the second quarter ended September.

In the first half of FY23, the cumulative net profit of all public-sector banks (PSBs) increased by 32 per cent to Rs40,991 crore. During the second quarter, SBI reported the highest-ever profit of Rs 13,265 crore. On year-on-year basis, this was 74 per cent higher than the same quarter a year ago.

"The continuous efforts of our govt for reducing the NPAs and further strengthening the health of PSBs are now showing tangible results. All 12 PSBs declared net profit of Rs25,685 cr in Q2FY23 & total Rs40,991 cr in H1FY23, up by 50 per centand 31.6 per cent, respectively (y-o-y)," Sitharaman said in a tweet.

She further said Canara Bank reported an 89 per cent jump in profit to Rs 2,525 crore as compared to second quarter of the previous fiscal. Kolkata-based UCO Bank posted a 145 per cent surge in profit to Rs 504 crore while Bank of Baroda's profit increased by 58.70 per cent to Rs 3,312.42 crore in the second quarter, she said in another tweet. Two of the 12 lenders - Punjab National Bank (PNB), and Bank of India - reported profit declines ranging from 9-63 per cent. These lenders' declining profits have been ascribed to higher provisioning for bad loans.

PNB said the main reason behind the decline in the net profit was higher provisioning towards bad loans. The bank's provisioning for Q2FY23 rose to Rs 3,556 crore, as against Rs 2,693 crore in the year-ago period. Another state-owned lender Bank of India (BoI) said total provisions doubled to Rs 1,912 crore in the quarter from Rs 894 crore a year ago. A majority of the provisions came on standard accounts belonging to State governments in which payments were delayed and hence provisions had to be made after a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) inspection. Ten lenders have recorded profit ranging from 13-145 per cent during the second quarter of FY23. The highest percentage growth recorded by UCO Bank and Bank of Maharashtra at 145 per cent and 103 per cent over the same quarter of previous fiscal.