Open to handholding the stressed sectors, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram today said the Government will work out a strategy to assist industry segments reeling under the impact of economic slowdown.
“If the economy improves and growth improves, the sectors (which are not doing well) will recover. But in the meanwhile, we will have to do some handholding and try to help these sectors recover,” he said here while addressing a press conference after meeting the heads of public sector banks.
The Government will have to look at rising non-performing assets (NPAs) sector-wise and find ways and means to help them, he said, adding that the “NPA is reflection of the slowdown in the economy’’.
NPAs of the public sector banking group has increased 0.98 per cent in the one-year period ended September 2012 mainly on account of the stress being faced in sectors like infrastructure, steel, construction, textile, food process and telecom infrastructure.
On the positive side, Chidambaram said housing and automobile sectors have been doing well on the back of decline in EMIs.
Fresh capital infusion
The Minister said the Government would soon finalise capital infusion for the PSU banks and the beneficiaries would include Indian Overseas Bank, Central Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra. The Government had proposed to inject Rs 15,000 crore of capital in the PSU banks.