Big ticket reforms through privatisation of banks and insurance companies were announced during the Budget, but Covid-19 has played spoilsport with profitability, productivity, asset quality and financial management at the public sector banks
Employees of various government banks hold a banner as they shout slogans during a protest against the Privatization of Public Sector Banks and retrograde banking reforms during a two-day Nationwide strike at Jantar Mantar road on March 16, 2021 in New Delhi, India. Photo by Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
Four months after Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman announced big steps to reform—through privatisation in the banking and insurance sectors—in this fiscal year’s budget, some real concerns are starting to play out. The murmurs over which public sector banks (PSBs) will be privatised have been growing since the government think-tank Niti Aayog, in June, shortlisted the names of two banks and recommended them to the Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment.