The present paper is related to the role of public and private sector banks in priority sector lending. For the purpose of study, secondary data has been collected from Statistical Tables relating to Banks in India, Basic Statistical Returns and Trends and Progress of Banking in India. The period from 1990-91 to 2007-08 has been chosen for the study. The scope of study covers the data of public and private sector banks in India. It is found from the study that the both types of banks grew drastically after banking sector reforms but there was much attention in urban and metro cities at the cost of rural and semi urban areas. It was observed that the growth of all private sector banks in respect of all the parameters was greater than that of public sector banks. It is suggested to increase the attention of both the public and private sector banks on the rural and semi urban areas of the economy.