Public sector banks sufficiently capitalised, says MoS Finance

The government has infused capital amounting to Rs 2,86,043 crore in public sector banks (PSBs) during the last five years and they are sufficiently capitalised, Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

The government infused about Rs 3 lakh crore between 2017-18 and 2021-22.

As per inputs received from Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Capital to Risk-weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR) of PSBs has improved substantially over the past three years, increasing from 12.20 per cent at the end of 2018-19 to 14.34 per cent as on December 31, 2021, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat K Karad said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

 

"As reflected in their capital position as on December 31, 2021, PSBs are currently sufficiently capitalised," he said.

With regard to General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC), Karad said, no proposal to privatise GIC is under consideration of the government at present.

"Further, as per inputs received, total assets outstanding as on 31.3.2021 were Rs 38.04 lakh crore and Rs 1.35 lakh crore for LIC and GIC, respectively," he said.

With a view to providing a greater measure of protection to depositors in banks, Karad said DICGC raised the limit of insurance cover for depositors in insured banks from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh per depositor with effect from February 4, 2020.

The deposit insurance cover is applicable uniformly on all insured banks and their depositors, he said.

"Further, the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2021 received the assent of the President on 13.08.2021 and has been brought into force with effect from 01.09.2021," he said.

The amendments enable depositors to get easy and time-bound access to their deposits to the extent of deposit insurance cover through interim payments by DICGC, in cases of imposition of restrictions on banks under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, he said.