Past imperfect, present better, future uncertain

Incidents of corporate loans turning bad could be less than anticipated, but the banks' challenge will be retail loans. Large-scale job losses will have a bearing on the retail portfolio

With the December quarter coming to an end and most bankers putting on a brave face, announcing their resilience to take on the Covid-19 pandemic, let’s take a close look at how the listed banks have fared in the last quarter.

Overall, 31 listed banks have announced Rs 27,717 crore net profit for the September quarter against just about Rs 7,166 crore in the year-ago quarter. As a group, public sector banks (PSBs) have performed better than their private sector peers with their net profit rising many times more, albeit on a smaller base.

Among private banks, only one entity, Lakshmi Vilas