India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday asked public sector banks (PSBs) to take advantage of the Reserve Bank's jumbo 50 basis points rate cut to increase lending towards productive sectors of the economy.

The Reserve Bank of India earlier on June 6 slashed its benchmark repo rate by 50 basis points, lowering it to 5.5 per cent, marking it as their steepest move since the emergency. The RBI, while making the move, also lowered the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 100 basis points in tranches starting September. The decision to slash the repo rate was made in a meeting headed by Governor Sanjay Malhotra.

As reported by PTI, during a meeting to review the financial performance of PSBs, Sitharaman asked their chiefs to maintain profitability momentum in FY26, sources said.