Lok Sabha Question No. 1941 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-14
Subject: Disinvestment of PSBs
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: D. M. Kathir Anand

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1941

To be answered on the 14 th  March 2022/ Phalguna 23, 1943 (Saka)

## Disinvestment of PSBs

## 1941. SHRI D.M. KATHIR ANAND:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether most of the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) would be merged or disinvested by the end of 2023-24;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the total numbers of PSBs in Tamil Nadu both in urban and rural areas;
- (c) the measures taken by the Government to appoint bank officials with knowledge of Tamil language in Tamil Nadu, especially in the rural areas; and
- (d) the  other  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  extend  the  quality  banking  services  to common people particularly in rural areas of Tamil Nadu?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FINANCE (DR. BHAGWAT KARAD)

(a):  The  Finance  Minister,  in  her  speech  on  the  Union  Budget  for  the  year  2021-22, announced the Government's intent to take up the privatisation of two Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and the approval of a policy of strategic disinvestment of Public Sector Enterprises (PSE).  As  per  the  New  PSE  policy  for  Atmanirbhar  Bharat,  the  objectives  of  the  policy include enablement of growth of public sector enterprises through infusion of private capital, thereby contributing to economic growth and new jobs, and financing of social sector and development programmes of the Government.  Further, the decision for privatization of PSBs by Cabinet Committee concerned for privatization of PSBs has not been taken.

(b): As per RBI data, the total numbers of branches of PSBs operating in Tamil Nadu, as on 31.12.2021, were 6275 comprising 1869 in rural areas, 897 in urban areas and 3509 in other areas (metro and semi-urban).

(c): Officials are recruited on all-India basis and are subject to transfers all over India, they conduct  language  workshops  for  bank  officials  to  learn  communicative  skills  in  regional languages, which include Tamil, with an aim to be accessible to the local people and to extend quality  banking  services  to  them.  Additionally,  to  enable  ease  of  accessibility  to  banking services and to ensure that language is not a barrier, banks have taken the following steps:

1. Display of indicator boards at all the counters in Tamil, besides Hindi and English language
2.  Availability  of  booklets  consisting  of  all  details  of  service  and  facilities  in  Tamil Language
3. Availability of all printed material to be used by customers including account opening forms, pass books, etc. in trilingual including Tamil.
4.  Availability of redressal of customer grievances in Tamil.
5. Availability of the customer usage options of Tamil in all ATMs installed in the state.
6.  Availability  of  Tech  enabled  smart  banking  digital  channels  like  mobile  banking, internet banking and call centres services at various banks have enabled an increase in number  of  services  offered,  customer-friendliness,  and  local  language  customerinterface.

(d): The steps taken by the Government to extend the quality banking services to common people including these in rural areas of Tamil Nadu are as following:

1. The ease of access to banking services strengthened by ensuring every village to have at  least  one  banking  outlet,  branch  or  business  correspondent  within  a  5  kilometre distance has enabled coverage of 99.96% inhabited mapped villages across the country.
2.  The  JAM  trinity  (Jan  Dhan  accounts linked to Aadhar and mobile of  the account holders) has ensured delivery of banking services to the otherwise unbanked sections of the  population,  and enabling  these  new-to-banking  customers to  receive  government subsidies as Direct Benefit Transfer besides access to remittances, credit and insurance products.
3.  Implementation  of  EASE,  the  PSB  reforms  agenda,  has  enabled, inter  alia ,  the following:
- i. Setting up of loan management systems and centralised processing centres at PSBs, and end-to-end automated digital lending for loans to micro-enterprises has enabled improvement in the turn-around-time (TAT) of processing and sanction of loans;
- ii. Initiation of digital lending through PSBloansin59minutes.com to provide online inprinciple approval of loans to MSMEs, home loans, personal loans and auto loans has improved the credit access to individuals, including the common working class.
4. Credit Outreach programmes were organised with an aim to drive a special awareness campaign for the development of financial services and to accelerate the credit growth and improve penetration of social security schemes.
5. Financial Literacy camps have been organised at regular intervals to bring awareness amongst the common people regarding availability of banking facilities, including social security coverage for the customers.