'Remarkable': PM Modi hails banking sector as FY24 profit crosses ₹3-lakh cr

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has praised the banking sector's performance in the past 10 years, saying India's banking sector saw its net profit crossing ₹3 lakh crore for the first time in FY2023-24. "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," the PM said on X. He added that when the BJP-led NDA came to power in 2014, the country's 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, adding that this improvement in the health of banks will improve credit availability to poor, farmers and MSMEs.

The PM's latest remarks on the banking sector come after he appreciated the performance of India's public sector companies, saying the value of PSU stocks is increasing many times in the stock market. He also talked about the growth of PSU companies during the NDA's terms. During a recent TV interview, the PM cited an example of state-owned HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited), which he said made a "record profit" in the fourth quarter at over ₹4,000 crore. "This has never happened in the history of HAL. So I believe we have made good progress."

The PM also said that India is opening up various sectors, where the country is also "seeing pioneering startups" and the establishment of a manufacturing base. "India's digital revolution is empowering the poor and narrowing inequality... competitive Cooperative Federalism is the key to India's rising investments," he adds.

In February 2024, during a speech in Rajya Sabha, the PM gave similar remarks, wherein he said that investors’ confidence in PSUs has increased under the BJP-led NDA government and that the number of PSUs in the country increased from 234 in 2014 to 254 currently. "In the last 10 years, PSU’s net profit rose from ₹1.25 lakh crore between 2004 and 2014 to ₹2.50 lakh crore, and their net value increased by 79% from ₹9.5 lakh crore to ₹17 lakh crore," the PM had said in the upper house of Parliament.

The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had also appreciated the PSU companies on May 8, 2024, saying the total market cap of all 81 listed PSUs, comprising 62 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), 12 PSBs, 3 public sector insurance companies and IDBI Bank, grew by 225% in the past three years.

She said the total paid-up capital of all CPSEs was ₹5.05 lakh crore as of March 31, 2023, vs ₹1.98 lakh crore in FY14, an increase of 155%. Total gross revenue from the operations of CPSEs during FY 2023 was ₹37.90 lakh crore v/s ₹20.61 lakh crore in FY 14, an increase of 84%, she added. The FM said the net profit of profit-making CPSEs stood at ₹2.41 lakh crore in FY 2023 vs ₹1.29 lakh crore in FY14, an increase of 87%.