International Research Journal of Education and Technology

The banking sector constitutes a cornerstone of India's economic infrastructure, facilitating financial intermediation, mobilizing savings, and channelling credit to productive sectors. Over the past three decades, the Indian banking landscape has undergone substantial transformation driven by liberalization, technological innovation, and regulatory reform. This study conducts a comparative financial performance analysis of selected public sector banks (State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, and Bank of Baroda) and private sector banks (HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Axis Bank) over a ten-year period from 2016 to 2025. The research adopts a quantitative and comparative research design, employing secondary data sourced from annual reports, Reserve Bank of India publications, and official bank databases. Key financial indicators, namely Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), Net Profit Margin (NPM), Credit-Deposit Ratio (CDR), and Cost-to-Income Ratio (CIR), are analysed using descriptive statistics, trend analysis, and independent sample t-tests. The findings reveal that private sector banks consistently outperform public sector banks across all major financial indicators. Private banks demonstrate significantly higher profitability, superior liquidity management, and greater operational efficiency. Hypothesis testing confirms that the differences between the two sectors are statistically significant at the five percent level for all variables tested. Among individual banks, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank emerge as the strongest performers, while SBI leads among public sector banks. The study concludes that ownership structure, management efficiency, technological adoption, and risk management practices are critical determinants of banking performance. The findings carry implications for policymakers, banking professionals, and investors seeking to understand the evolving dynamics of the Indian banking industry.

Keywords: Financial Performance, Public Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks, Profitability, CAMEL, India