SBI wrote off the highest amount of bad loans in 2021-22
India’s banks have written off loans amounting to over Rs.10.09 lakh crore in the last five financial years. This was informed in Parliament by Finance Ministry on Monday. As expected India’s prime State Bank of India (SBI) is the highest in loan writing off crossing Rs.2.04 lakh crore followed by Punjab National Bank (PNB) with Rs.67,214 crores. Bank of Baroda wrote off loans amounting to Rs.66,711 crores.
Private bank ICICI wrote off loans worth Rs.50,514 crores followed by another private bank Axis Bank with Rs.49,715 crore loans written off in past five years. However, the Finance Ministry has not given the details of debtors citing banking rules for keeping privacy.
Informing these details Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told Lok Sabha on Monday that recovery in NPA (non-performing asset) accounts, including written-off loans, was an ongoing process.
According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, public sector banks have recovered Rs.4,80,111 crore, including Rs.1,03,045 crore from written-off loans, during the last five financial years, she said. “As per inputs received from the RBI, scheduled commercial banks have written off an amount of Rs.10,09,511 crore during the last five financial years,” said the Finance Minister.
The borrowers of written-off loans continue to be liable for repayment and the process of recovery of dues from the borrower in written-off loan accounts continues, she added. Banks continue to pursue recovery actions initiated in written-off accounts through various recovery mechanisms available, she added.
The actions include filing a suit in civil courts or in Debts Recovery Tribunals, action under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002, filing of cases in the National Company Law Tribunal under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, through negotiated settlement and compromise and sale of NPAs. “Therefore, write-off does not benefit the borrowers,” she said.
The Minister said according to RBI guidelines and policy approved by banks’ boards, NPAs, including those in respect of which full provisioning had been made on completion of four years, were removed from the balance sheet of the bank concerned by way of the write-off. Banks evaluate and consider the impact of write-offs as part of their regular exercise to clean up their balance sheet, avail of tax benefits, and optimize capital, in accordance with RBI guidelines and policies approved by their boards, she said.
Replying to a question, Nirmala Sitharaman said the process of retrieving money of small depositors and investors from loan defaulters was very complicated as the legal process was lengthy and there were multiple claimants to the seized assets that included banks and other financial institutions. The Minister said she was aware of the depositors undergoing extreme difficulties and there was a need to look into the issue and how to simplify the process.
Earlier, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad said the names of loan defaulters were not disclosed due to RBI guidelines but their names could be disclosed once their assets were put up for auction.
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Numbers are increasing exponential. Good progress. Can someone publish how the private banks when they write off such “small loans” get financed or meet monetary conditions ? or get away with saying bad loans is 0.1% of xyz……