This refers to your editorial "SBI heads downwards" (May 28). It's true that the recent performance of State Bank of India (SBI) and other public sector banks, particularly in terms of non-performing assets (NPAs), is not on expected lines. However, it is unfair to treat pubic sector banks on a par with private sector banks on the NPA front; public sector banks are burdened strictly with priority sector and agricultural lending. It's no exaggeration to say that most of the agricultural advances are NPAs ab initio. Moreover, it has been proved that there is no dearth of talent in public sector banks since they have been a favourite hunting ground for private sector bank's middle- and senior-management cadre.
Ravi Kant, Mumbai
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