India's Banks Report Net Profit Above Rs 3 Lakh Crore For First Time, PM Modi Slams UPA's 'Phone-Banking Policy'

In a first, India's banking sector registered a net profit of over Rs 3 lakh crore. With an increase of 39 per cent, the net profit of listed public and private banks was Rs 3.1 lakh crore in the Financial Year (FY) 2024.

Of this, Rs 1.4 lakh crore net profit was of public sector banks with 34 per cent increase and private banks reported Rs 1.7 lakh net profit with 42 per cent increase.

This net profit is significant as it crosses the net profit of even IT companies, that are considered to be most profitable. In FY24, the listed IT companies reported a net profit of Rs 1.1 lakh crore.

Moreover, the net profit of public banks has more than quadrupled in the last three years as they cleaned their balance sheets and increased their earnings, TOI reported.

They could have recorded an even higher net profit in FY24 but several banks made a one-time provision towards pensions. In recent times, they were also able to narrow down the profit gap with private banks.

Calling this development a "remarkable turnaround", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "This improvement in the health of banks will help improve credit availability to our poor, farmers and MSMEs."

Taking a dig at Congress, he said, "When we came to power, our banks were reeling with losses and high NPAs due to the phone-banking policy of UPA. The doors of the banks were closed for the poor."