FinMin to meet chiefs of public sector banks on Wednesday to review quarterly numbers

New Delhi: The finance ministry has called a meeting of heads of public sector banks (PSBs) on Wednesday to review the second-quarter and half yearly financial performance.

The meeting is scheduled to be chaired by Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju.

This is the first meeting after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week said the country needs big and world-class banks, and discussions are on with the Reserve Bank and lenders in this regard.

"Government is looking at this and work has already commenced. We are discussing with the RBI. We are discussing with banks," she had said.

The review meeting on November 12 with public sector banks will also deliberate on progress made on flagship schemes of the government besides their financial numbers, sources said.

Public sector banks posted a record cumulative profit of Rs 49,456 crore in the second quarter of the current fiscal, reflecting a 9 per cent year-on-year growth despite two lenders reporting a decline.

All 12 public sector banks (PSBs) together made a profit of Rs 45,547 crore in the September quarter of FY25. Thus, the increase in profit in absolute terms was Rs 3,909 crore as compared to the same quarter of the previous financial year.

Market leader SBI alone contributed 40 per cent to the total earnings of Rs 49,456 crore, as per the published numbers on stock exchanges.

SBI logged a net profit of Rs 20,160 crore in Q2 FY26, 10 per cent higher than the same period of the previous fiscal.

In percentage terms, Chennai-based Indian Overseas Bank reported the highest net profit growth of 58 per cent to Rs 1,226 crore, followed by Central Bank of India with a 33 per cent rise to Rs 1,213 crore.

During the quarter, two out of 12 state lenders -- Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India -- reported an 8 per cent and 10 per cent decline in their profit, respectively.