疫情后印度经济复苏中公共部门银行的崛起

Public Sector Banks (PSBs) represent one of India’s most remarkableturnaround stories in its recent economic history. These financialinstitutions, defined as commercial banks in which the Government of India(GOI) holds a majority stake of 51% or more, have undergone a dramatictransformation from being burdened by mounting Non-Performing Assets The importance of PSBs goes well beyond their financial measure. Thesebanks are the major financial lifeline to millions of Indians who are stillunable to access the formal banking system, which is dominated by theirprivate sector counterparts. Government ownership carries an implicit Thetransition of PSBs to recoveryprovideslessons on organisationalpossibilitiesthat can be unlockedthroughstrategic policy,alongside private-sector bank is especially stark inthe area of operational philosophy andmarketpositioning.Even when theseactivities may not yield returns in theshort-term, PSBs have a long history ofattending to areas of financial inclusion,priority-sector lending and government-initiated policy endeavours. Meanwhile,privatebanks are more agile in citymarkets and focused on clients that arebeneficial to profit margins – are likely tofocuson smaller/niche markets orcustomers that are part of higher incomebrackets.Such inherent variation instrategy has established a complementaryecosystemof banking in which PSBs UNDERSTANDING PUBLIC SECTOR A l t h o u g hP S B s a r e c o m m e r c i a l RegulationAct and governed by theReserveBank of India(RBI),they aregovernment-majority-owned institutionsthatopen opportunities as well aschallenges that define their operationaldynamics.This form of ownershipallows PSBs to address wider growth ands o c i a lne e d s t h a t w ou ld no t b eThe current landscape features 12 majorPSBs following the consolidation drive of2017 to 2020: State Bank of India (SBI),Bankof Baroda,Punjab National Bank,Canara Bank, Union Bank of India, IndianBank, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra,Central Bank of India, Indian OverseasBank, UCO Bank, and Punjab & Sind Bank. These institutions collectively commandasignificant share of India’s banking HISTORICALEVOLUTION:FROM The roots of India’s public sector bankingsystemcan be traced to the colonialerawhen the Imperial Bank of Indiawa se s t a bl i s he d i n 1 92 1 t h r ou g ht h ea m a l g a m a t i o n o f t h e t h r e e of the Imperial Bank into the State Bank ofIndia in 1955 marked the beginning ofIndia’ssystematic approach to state-c o n t r o l l e db a n k i n g ,s e t t i n g t h efoundationfor what would eventuallybecomethe world’s largest network ofgovernment-owned banks. would also in the future trigger difficultya sc o m me r c i a l p o te n c y a t t i me s Wavesof nationalisation in 1969 and1980 significantly changed the context of theIndian banking sector.The initialwaveof 1969 nationalised 14 of thelargest major private banks, consisting of PRE-PANDEMICCRISIS:THE NPA Prior to the onset of the pandemic, theasset quality crisis in India’s PSBs was soseverethat it challenged the veryexistence of the Indian public bankingsystem.The gross NPA of PSBs hadalarmingly increased by over three timesto Rs. 8,45,475 crore (US$ 97.98 billion) asofMarch 31,2018,as against the Rs.2,67,065 crore (US$ 30.89 billion) as ofMarch 31, 2015, a rise of more than three downturn in asset quality was not just astatisticalproblem,but a structuralproblemthat has been accumulatingover the last decade. The origin of this crisis dates back to atime of excessive lending in India duringthehigh economic growth period over2003-2008. In the process, PSBs built theircorporatelending books extensively,especiallyin small-scale infrastructurep r o j e c t s ,p o w e r ,s t e e l a n dtelecommunications. A good proportion suchas Corporate Debt Restructuring(CDR) and various restructuring packagespermittedbanks to avoid classifyingproblematic loans as NPAs, creating anillusion of asset quality that masked the The situation was further worsened by thefailureof governance in several PSBsw h e r e b yc r e d i t d e c i s i o n s w e r eoccasionally influenced by factors otherthan sheer commercial viability. Externaleconomic factors (mainly the pressure on The regulatory environment of the timeinadvertently contributed to the problem marked departure from previous ad-hocapproachesto banking problems anddemonstrated a clear understanding that T H E4 R SS T R A T E G Y : The government’s response to the bankingc r i s i sw a s e n c a p s u l a t e d i n t h ecomprehensive 4Rs strategy: Recognition, The government’s 4Rs strategy tackled thebanking crisis in four clear steps. planned to establish bigger organisationsbutto also synergise strength and STRATEGICCONSOLIDATION: Theconsolidation process requiredextensive planning and coordination toensuresmooth integration of systems,processes,and cultures.Each mergerinvolvedharmonising different corebankingsystems,integrating branch The unification of the PSB sect