New Credit Products By PSU Banks To Come Out In Three-Four Months, Says Banking Secretary

India's public sector banks are set to come out with a range of new credit products, according to Banking Secretary Nagaraju Maddirala. These products could possibly be aimed at the youth.

"The government is very committed to enhance credit availability. There are a huge number of young people who require credit and we're going to use all kinds of channels," he said.

"In the next three-four months, we're going to come up with several new products with PSBs and the government is also going to give credit guarantee," the Secretary of the Department of Financial Services said, while addressing the CII Fintech Summit in New Delhi.

Banking sector is now in very vibrant health, but their valuations remain lower than the private sector, he added.

"All the public sector banks are doing well and our profits are higher than most private banks. Of course, our market cap is lower than them. People keep telling me there's a PSU discount, therefore, our share prices aren't high, but our dividends and profits are high. Our NPAs are lower than 0.6% and GNPAs are 3.6%," he said.

The Finance Ministry is also expected to push for the passage of the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing winter session of Parliament. It was introduced in August, during the monsoon session.

The Bill seeks to bring change in the tenure of directors of cooperative banks, among others, while it doesn’t deal with changes with respect to privatisation of banks.