The cynosure of this study is performance of 26 public sector banks functioning in India. The study applied principal component analysis to measure the performance of public banks during the period 2013-2017. The study used Principal Component Analysis to develop a composite index score method for each individual bank by using seven variables representing soundness, productivity and profitability and then ranked the banks based upon index score obtained in relation to other banks. The study found that syndicate bank (2013 & 2014), SBH (2015), State bank of Bikaner& Jaipur (2016) and Vijaya bank (2017) achieved top performance for the period 2013-17. The results of the study provides insights on the performance of Indian banks. In order to maintain long term growth, the banks should focus on Customer centricity, Regulatory recalibration, Technology management, Mitigating cyber risk, Fintechs and big techs, and Reimagining the workforce.