# EAC-PM paper says public banks more efficient than private 2026-08-25T20:53:32+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets Public sector banks are more efficient than private and foreign banks, a working paper by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) has found. The paper, authored by EAC-PM part-time member Soumya Kanti Ghosh and economist Tapas Kumar Parida, studied 47 banks covering over 95 per cent of banking assets from FY15 to FY26. It measured efficiency using Data Envelopment Analysis, scoring each bank between 0 and 100 per cent. PSBs' average efficiency improved to 93.12 per cent in FY26 from 72.46 per cent in FY20, outperforming private banks, which stood at 86 per cent. Foreign banks remained at 83-85 per cent. Among individual lenders, SBI scored 97.49 per cent, HDFC Bank 97.54 per cent and JP Morgan and HSBC ranked top among foreign banks. The paper credited capital infusion and digital upgrades for the PSB turnaround. Separately, the Times of India reports that the same paper calls for further bank consolidation to create a few large institutions without compromising competition, arguing India needs globally competitive lenders to meet credit demand as it targets developed nation status by 2047. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Source-1 (thehindubusinessline.com) offers a straight data report, leading with the punchline, PSBs more efficient than private, and foregrounding the paper's efficiency scores. Source-2 (Times of India) frames the same paper around a policy call for bank mergers to create global-scale institutions. The difference is audience: one presents the academic finding as news, the other extracts the actionable government advisory. Neither is critical or pro-government, both are neutral in tone. The balanced reading is that the paper's primary news is the efficiency ranking, but the Times’ merger angle signals a likely policy direction. The government, if it acts, will cite this paper as evidence. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - thehindubusinessline.com (neutral report) Leads with efficiency ranking, reports data without policy prescription emphasis - timesofindia.indiatimes.com (neutral report) Frames paper around recommended bank mergers for global scale This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-26T00:01:26+00:00. Tags: Bank of Maharashtra, EAC-PM, HDFC Bank, RBI, SBI, State Bank of India Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/public-sector-banks-more-efficient-than-private-eac-pm-paper/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/public-sector-banks-more-efficient-than-private-eac-pm-paper/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/