State Bank of India pitches for cut in repo rate, CRR

Voicing concern over situation in states like Odisha, particularly in the steel sector, Chaudhuri said restrictions clamped recently due to environmental reasons and excess mining had caused setback and NPA in Odisha stood at some Rs 2,500 crore.

"But in these cases if we don't remain patient, the situation will worsen," he said, adding that "we need to differentiate between willful defaulters and others".

Stating that investment in steel, power, aluminium and fertiliser sectors had slowed down, Chaudhuri said whatever fund was sanctioned earlier is now being utilised for operations.

The total exposure of SBI in the steel sector is around Rs 18,000 crore and in Odisha it is Rs 4,000 crore, he said, adding that the main challenge at present was in the field of lending.

Referring to capital infusion, the SBI chief said the central government is extending about Rs 3,000 crore by the end of the current fiscal.

This was part of Rs 12,000 crore infusion plan approved by the Finance Ministry recently.

Last fiscal, the government had infused Rs 7,900 crore in SBI to increase the Tier-I capital of the country's largest bank. Following the capital infusion in March last year, the government holding in SBI rose to 61.58 per cent from 59.4 per cent.