A meeting, a fresh one, will be held between the Indian Finance Minister and the Chief Executives of all public sector banks on July 13th. It has been called to discuss matters of importance particularly with regard to poor offtake of non-food credit in the current fiscal. In addition to this, the meeting will also focus on the progress of the voluntary retirement schemes (VRS) in all public sector banks. The Finance Minister usually meets the PSU heads only after the finalisation of their balance sheets.

The proper nature of the agenda for the meet has not been decided. Non-food credit which is regarded as a barometer of the economy has declined at a steady pace from a peak of Rs 4,90,296 crore as on April 6,2001 to Rs 4,66,962 crore as on June 1,2001 which is a fall of Rs 23,334 crore.