PSBs explore joint ventures after success of common auction portal

Time of India

13-07-2025

State-run banks are examining the feasibility of setting up more
joint ventures
among themselves for business and operational efficiency, encouraged by the success of the common property listing and e-auction portal through which more than 100,000 seized properties have been auctioned in the past 11 months.
A four-member committee comprising senior executives from
public sector banks
(PSBs), including
Bank of India
,
Union Bank
and Central Bank of India, has been set up to look at the capital requirement for these joint ventures, said two bank executives aware of the development. The panel was set up in June.
These initiatives are a part of state-run banks' 'Enhanced Access & Service Excellence (EASE)' reforms agenda.
"The committee will also look at specific approaches such as the Re-KYC project (for periodic and re-verification of customer information) developed by
Bank of Maharashtra
and examine the feasibility of scaling such initiatives and pursuing them through joint ventures," said one of the executives.
Another bank executive said some of the collaborative initiatives, including a common collection firm to recover retail and MSME loans below ₹5 crore, are already being worked out.
"While some of these will be pursued through
PSB Alliance
, we can also look at setting up other ventures, depending on the requirement," he said. Doorstep banking and a cloud infrastructure for PSBs are also being pursued, he added.
The
Bank Asset Auction Network
(BAANKNET), through which properties are auctioned, is powered by PSB Alliance, which is set up by all PSBs to offer
customer-oriented services
jointly.
After a review meeting of PSBs in June 2025, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had asked banks to proactively identify emerging commercial growth areas for the next decade and deepen corporate lending in productive sectors with a strong focus on maintaining robust underwriting and risk-management standards.
Earlier this month, Indian Banks' Association (IBA) chief executive Atul Goel said that through Ease 7.0 in FY24-25, PSBs had accelerated generative artificial intelligence readiness and implemented pilot use cases, strengthened data governance and analytics, adopted cloud for scalable operations, and enabled digital operating models for cost efficiency and quality.
As per an IBA report, under EASErise, the reform agenda for FY26, banks' core focus will be on fortifying the risk-management systems of PSBs, enhancing their capacity to absorb economic shocks and upholding financial stability.