Under Modi regime, private banks outnumber PSBs on new rural branches

Since 2014, public sector banks' branch network in rural and semi urban has grown by a mere 4,000 - from 49,859 in 2014 to 53,467 while for private sector banks, it doubled from 9,673 to 18,437

At a time when the government’s initiative to privatize public sector banks has drawn flak from several quarters as these lenders are seen to be at the forefront of lending to the rural areas, Reserve Bank of India’s data tells a different story.

In the last four years (since September 2017), public sector banks have cut down on their overall branch strength sharply while the presence in rural and semi-urban areas also declined.

Private banks, on the other hand, expanded their overall branch network rapidly and their semi-urban and rural presence has grown commensurately.

Public sector banks had 91,994 branches