By IANS,
Sagardighi (West Bengal): Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Sunday said that the government would continue with its reform programme, but ruled out any possibilities of the government diluting its stake below 51 per cent in the public sector banks (PSB).
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has been pursuing the banking reforms agenda for quite some time and it is the “solid government stakeholding in the PSU banks” that has actually enabled the Indian banks to tide over the global economic downturn, he said.
“Some of the banks (PSB) have also declined budgetary support and told us that they can mobilise their own funding requirements. This once again shows that there is no need of any dilution of the government’s stake in the banks below 51 per cent. Rather it will be well above it,” Mukherjee said.
The minister was here to attend a programme organised by the United Bank of India (UBI) to distribute token Kisan Credit Cards to farmers.
Earlier in the programme, S.C. Gupta, the chairman and managing director of Kolkata-based UBI, said the bank has registered a 10 percent growth in the first quarter (April-June) of the current fiscal (2009-10) and crossed a business level of Rs.100,000 crore on a year-on-year basis in July 2009.
“The bank is hoping to tap the market for its maiden IPO (initial public offer) sometime in December or January next,” Gupta added.