Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to hold a meeting with public sector banks today. Officials from the Debt Recovery Tribunal, Bank Board Bureau, Ministry of MSME, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to also take part in the meeting. Discussions on the review of recovery, bank performance and reforms, financial inclusion, digitalisation, housing loans, MSME lending and new initiatives are expected.


The meeting is also expected to discuss a host of issues, including progress made with regard to reduction in non-performing assets, PTI reported.


The meeting will take place against the backdrop of the "alternative mechanism" (AM) to merge three public sector banks -- Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank -- with a view to creating a global-size lender which will be stronger and sustainable.


Besides, the finance minister would discuss credit growth and the bad loan situation, sources said, adding that various recovery measures by banks and legislative steps taken by the government to expedite recovery were also part of the agenda.


Banks had stepped up efforts as far as recovery of bad loans was concerned, the sources added. Lenders have made cash recovery of Rs 36,551 crore in the first quarter of 2018-19. This is 49 per cent higher than the same quarter of the previous year. During 2017-18, banks had recovered Rs 74,562 crore.


According to sources, the meeting will review the annual financial performance of public sector banks, credit offtake in the economy, priority sector lending ,and progress made under various social sector schemes, including Atal Pension Yojana (APY) and Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY).


The cumulative loss of public sector banks crossed Rs 87,357 crore in 2017-18, with scam-tainted Punjab National Bank topping the chart with a hit of nearly Rs 12,283 crore, followed by IDBI Bank. Of the 21 state-owned banks, only two, Indian Bank and Vijaya Bank, reported profits in 2017-18.