Bad loans at public sector banks have increased to Rs2.67 lakh crore at the end of March 2015 from Rs2.16 lakh crore a year ago, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha informed Parliament on Tuesday.
“NPAs of (PSU) banks for the system as a whole is increasing continuously,” he said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. Gross NPA Ratio of the public sector banks (PSBs) increased to 5.43 per cent at the end of March 2015 as compared to 4.72 per cent a year ago, he said.
Replying to another question, Sinha said “the Government, RBI and the PSBs are all concerned with timely recovery of NPAs as it affects their profitability and capital adequacy.”
During 2014-15, he said, the public sector banks have recovered Rs41,236 crore as compared to Rs33,698 crore in the previous fiscal.
The recovery mechanism in the form of Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs), Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), Central Registry of Securitization Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest of India (CERSAI) and Central Repository of Information of large Credits (CRIlC) are already in existence, he said.
RBI further released guidelines for Early Recognition of Financial Distress, Prompt Steps for Resolution suggesting various steps with specific timelines for implementation of corrective action, he added.