Page 5 - Banking Finance July 2024

BANK UPDATE

Banking

PM Modi lauds turn- Ex- cabinet secretary office should come up during the cur-
rent financial year, if all regulatory
around in banking sector Pradeep Kumar Sinha is approvals are in place.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said new ICICI chief As on March 31, 2024, PNB had pres-
that the banking sector has witnessed Former cabinet secretary Pradeep ence in six countries by way of two
a remarkable turnaround in the last 10 Kumar Sinha will take over as chairman subsidiaries (London-UK and Bhutan),
years. of ICICI Bank from G C Chaturvedi, who one joint venture (Nepal), two repre-
"In a remarkable turnaround in the retires, the bank said in a notification sentative offices (Myanmar and
last 10 years, India's banking sector net to the exchanges. Bangladesh).
profit crosses Rs 3 lakh crore for the RBI approved Sinha's appointment on
first time ever," said PM Modi in a post May 24 for a three-year term effective New 160 number series to
on X. July 1, 2024. Sinha joined the Indian
administrative service in 1977 after reduce spam calls
He further said that when the BJP-led The Telecom Regulatory Authority of
government came into power, banks completing his Masters in Economics
from the Delhi School of Economics in India (Trai) said the new 160 number
were grappling with losses and high series will reduce spam and ensure
Non-Performing Assets (NPAs), largely 1976. He graduated in economics from
St Stephens College, Delhi. customers do not miss out on impor-
attributed to the policies of the previ-
tant service and transactional calls.
ous government.
Punjab National Bank to In a meeting with the Reserve Bank of
"When we came to power, our banks open representative office India (RBI), the Securities and Ex-
were reeling with losses and high NPAs change Board of India (Sebi), the Insur-
due to the phone-banking policy of in Dubai ance Regulatory and Development
UPA. The doors of the banks were Punjab National Bank plans to open a Authority of India (Irdai), and more
closed for the poor. This improvement representative office in Dubai, as part than 25 banks and other financial in-
in the health of banks will help improve of its plan to expand its global foot- stitutions, TRAI discussed the burgeon-
credit availability to our poor, farmers, print. ing problem of spam and ways to
and MSMEs," said PM Modi. The bank has got the board of direc- tackle it, officials said.
For the first time, the banking sector's tors' approval for opening a represen- So far, numbers in the 140 series have
net profit crossed Rs 3 lakh crore in tative office in Dubai and the process been allocated for all commercial pur-
FY24, reported Times of India. The net is on for seeking regulatory clearance, poses. These could be classified further
profit of listed public and private sec- PNB managing director Atul Kumar into (140) marketing and (160 or 161)
Goel said.
tor banks rose 39% to Rs 3.1 lakh crore for service calls to easily identify the
from Rs 2.2 lakh crore in FY23. Hopefully, he said, the representative purpose of the call in the future.

BANKING FINANCE | JULY | 2024 | 5