Even as public sector banks lent Rs 4.12 trillion to government-backed entities in FY23, Canara Bank emerged as the top lender, followed by Punjab National Bank (PNB) and State Bank of India (SBI).

The exposure of public sector banks to state-backed corporations and public sector undertakings was higher at Rs 4.93 trillion during 2021-22, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed Parliament in a written response on Monday.

Responding to questions by member of parliament Velusamy P, Sitharaman informed the Lok Sabha that Canara Bank lent Rs 187,813 crore in FY23.

While PNB lent Rs 70,142.5 crore to government-backed entities in FY23, SBI’s exposure stood at Rs 66,523.2 crore, Bank of India’s at Rs 25,147 crore, Bank of Baroda’s at Rs 15,706.8 crore, Union Bank of India’s at Rs 12,584.8 crore, Bank of Maharashtra’s at Rs 10,822.7 crore, Indian Bank’s at Rs 9,021 crore, Indian Overseas Bank’s at Rs 7,490 crore, Central Bank of India’s at Rs 3,949 crore, UCO Bank’s at Rs 2,939.4 crore and Punjab and Sind Bank’s at Rs 87.7 crore.

Meanwhile, the finance minister informed the Lok Sabha that public sector banks will have to take steps to adopt a focused approach on ease of service delivery and customer protection, follow regulatory norms, adopt robust risk management practices, focus on increasing rural, agriculture and sectoral credit to meet the priority sector lending targets.

“Performance under PM SVANidhi scheme, which was started to support Covid affected street vendors to restart their businesses, was noted, wherein 50.57 lakh loans have been disbursed, amounting to Rs 6,482 crore, to 38.5 lakh street vendors as on 20.7.2023," Sitharaman said.

The public sector banks have posted record aggregate net profit of Rs 1.04 trillion in FY2022-23, she added.