Banks write off loans worth Rs 9.75 lakh cr

Banks have written off loans worth Rs 9.75 lakh crore in the last 11 financial years, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said on Monday. The write off peaked in FY20 at Rs 1.59 lakh crore, and since then it has been declining to Rs 47,568 crore in FY25.

Banks have written off Rs 31,723 crore in FY15, Rs 40,416 crore in FY16, Rs 68,308 crore in FY 17, and Rs 99,132 crore in FY18, he said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. In 2018-19, he said, the write off of loans crossed Rs 1 lakh crore to Rs 1.59 lakh crore.

“Banks write off NPAs, including those in respect of which full provisioning has been made on completion of four years, as per RBI guidelines and policy approved by banks’ boards. Such a write-off does not result in waiver of liabilities of borrowers, and therefore, it does not benefit the borrower,” he said. The borrowers continue to be liable for repayment, and banks continue to pursue recovery actions initiated in these accounts, he added.

The recovery in written-off loans is an ongoing process, and banks continue pursuing their recovery actions initiated against borrowers under various recovery mechanisms available to them, he noted.