Banks should resist temptation to pursue short-term profits: Survey

New Delhi: Banks should resist the temptation to pursue short-term profits at the expense of the customer, Economic Survey 2023-24 presented in Parliament on Monday said. As corporate profits are booming, the net interest margins of Indian banks have risen to a multi-year high, it said, adding that profitable banks lend more. "To sustain the good times, it is important not to forget the lessons of the last financial cycle downturn. The banking industry must aim to lengthen the gap between two NPA cycles. It should also resist the temptation to pursue short-term profits at the expense of the customer," it said. Product misselling is too rampant to be dismissed as an aberration of a few overenthusiastic sales personnel, it said, adding that the same can be said of the insurance industry as well. Prompt and reasonable settlement of insurance claims and a lower rejection rate are necessary to increase insurance penetration, it said. Acknowledgement of misselling and misrepresentation and compensating for consequential losses is a good business practice enjoined upon stockbroking, fund management, banking and insurance firms, it added.