PM Modi praises banking sector after net profit surpasses Rs 3 lakh cr in FY24

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has heaped praise on the Indian banking sector saying it has witnessed a remarkable turnaround in the last 10 years, after the net profit exceeded Rs 3 lakh crore for the first time in FY24.

Appreciating the significant improvement in India’s banking sector, PM Modi, took to X (formerly Twitter), saying, "In a remarkable turnaround in the last 10 years, India's banking sector net profit crosses Rs 3 lakh crore for the first time ever.”

“When we came to power, our banks were reeling with losses and high NPAs due to the phone-banking policy of UPA. The doors of the banks were closed for the poor,” he said in the post.

The net profit of listed public and private sector banks rose 39% to Rs 3.1 lakh crore from Rs 2.2 lakh crore in FY23. This improvement in the health of banks will help improve credit availability to our poor, farmers and MSMEs, Modi added.

In the previous financial year, private sector banks reported a net profit of Rs 1.78 lakh crore, while state-owned banks reported Rs 1.41 lakh crore, Business Today reported.

In FY24, private sector banks reported a higher net profit than public sector banks. While 26 private sector banks had reported a net profit of Rs 1.78 lakh crore, 12 public sector banks posted a net profit of Rs 1.41 lakh crore.

Modi said the government had put in Rs 3.5 lakh crore to strengthen and improve the condition of public sector banks (PSBs).

“Gross NPAs of banks came down from 11.25 percent in 2018 to 3 percent in September 2023 and credit growth of banks is nearly at 15 percent,” Modi had said.

According to an India TV report, while public sector banks generated a record Rs 1.4 lakh crore in net profit during the year—an increase of 34% over the year-ago period—private sector banks increased their net by 42% to nearly Rs 1.7 lakh crore compared to Rs 1.2 lakh crore a year ago.

The recorded profit of Rs 3 lakh crore is approximately the total quarterly profits of all listed companies in the first three quarters of the fiscal, it said.