Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday asked public sector banks (PSBs) to take advantage of Reserve Bank's jumbo 50 basis points rate cut to increase lending toward productive sectors of the economy. During a meeting to review financial performance of PSBs, Sitharaman asked their chiefs to maintain profitability momentum in FY26, sources said. Cumulative profit of 12 PSBs rose to record Rs 1.78 lakh crore in FY25, registering a growth of 26 per cent over the previous year. The year-on-year increase in profit in absolute terms was about Rs 37,100 crore in FY25.