Bhubaneswar: Read government Saturday withdrew the restrictions on three private banks and allowed them to handle state business, according to an official order.

The government had June 21 removed HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Axis Bank from the list of empanelled banks due to their poor performance in handling state-run schemes and on the basis of general banking parameters.

This decision to withdraw the previous order was taken after senior officials of the banks met Chief Minister Mohan Majhi July 1 and submitted written assurance to improve their performance in priority sector lending and credit-to-deposit ratio, the order said.

“In view of this, the state government has now decided to withdraw its earlier order dated June 21. As a result, these 3 banks will now continue as empanelled banks eligible to handle business and deposits of state government organisations,” it said.

PTI