Have They Really Declined? And on Whose Account? K M Shajahan Non-performing assers (NPAs) reflect the health of the banking system. So it is a matter of same significance when the Reserve Bank discloses, as it does in its latest report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India that between end-March 1996 and 1997, NPAs of public sector banks were brought down by almost one-half Closely connected with the magnitude of NPAs is the proportion of NPAs atlributable to the priority sector, Here, according to the RBI, almost one-half of all NPAs of public sector banks are accounted for by the priority sector.