Lauding Punjab National Bank’s recent financial performance, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said that the bank was now in a position to support the economic growth of the country.

“Banking is the economy’s lifeline. In the coming days, banking will become even a bigger lifeline,” Jaitley said after inaugurating PNB’s new headquarters in the Capital.

Jaitley said that banks must continue to play an important role in supporting economic growth.

PNB had, a few days ago, reported a robust 63 per cent increase in sequential growth in net profit at ₹560.6 crore in the second quarter, signalling that the worst may be over for the public sector bank.

Jaitley also said that digitalisation would go up in the coming days. Indians have to be mindful about the cost of handling cash and factor in the “curse of cash”. “There is a clear change in how India and Indians now spend their money. That is the only direction,” he said, indicating that the digitalisation trend and increased use of digital payments are here to stay.

Speaking on the occasion, Sunil Mehta, Managing Director and CEO, PNB, hailed the Centre’s recent ₹2.11-lakh- crore banks’ recapitalisation announcement. He said this has boosted the spirits of public sector banks like PNB.

It may be recalled that PNB this fiscal is looking to raise capital of ₹6,000 crore through various routes.

An extraordinary general meeting (EGM) has been convened on December 4 to get shareholders approval for raising Common Equity Tier-I capital to the tune of ₹5,000 crore. PNB had earlier obtained shareholders’ approval for raising ₹3,000 crore and this is now being increased to ₹5,000 crore.

Srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in

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