Consulting firm Primus Partners believe that growing non-performing assets are one of the major challenges for the banking, financial and services sector. “Banks witnessing a rise in non-performing assets (NPAs) which have increased from 7.5 per cent last year to 13.5 per cent in September 2021. The key issue is with the public sector banks which have been impacted the most during the pandemic period. In order to finance the growth driven by private investment, there is a need to help improve the balance sheets by looking at initiatives beyond bank consolidation,” it said.