Finance Secretary to meet heads of PSU banks on 19 September; will review progress made by lenders to help boost growth

New Delhi: Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar is scheduled to meet heads of public sector banks on 19 September to review progress made by them to help boost growth, including follow up action after reduction of interest rates by RBI, sources said on Thursday. The meeting comes against the backdrop of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing various measures to push economic growth. The agenda of the review meeting includes follow up action with respect to RBI rate cuts, and collaboration between banks and NBFCs for co-origination of loans to boost lending, the sources said. [caption id=“attachment_7023271” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] Besides, the meeting would assess the introduction of repo-linked loans for attracting new borrowers to push consumption and partial credit guarantee scheme for NBFCs, among others. Economic growth has a hit six-year low of 5 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal. The sources said the progress made by banks towards consolidation would also be discussed at the meeting. On 30 August, the government announced the consolidation of 10 large public sector banks into four. As part of the exercise, Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India would combine to form the nation’s second-largest lender. Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank would be merged while Union Bank of India would be amalgamated with Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank. Indian Bank would be merged with Allahabad Bank. Earlier this year, Bank of Baroda merged Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with itself. State Bank of India had merged five of its associate banks – State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Travancore and State Bank of Hyderabad – and also Bhartiya Mahila Bank, effective April 2017.