Zoom Developers tops UCO Bank's wilful defaulter list

Firms are from iron, steel, power sectors

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Public sector lender UCO Bank has, for the first time, published a list of 629 wilful defaulters on its website. The biggest defaulter is Mumbai-based firm Zoom Developers with a loan outstanding of around Rs 300 crore, followed by West Bengal-based coal and metallurgical coke sectors firm Fairdeal Supplies with Rs 232 crore debt. Tamil Nadu-based First Leasing Company of India is the third largest wilful defaulter of UCO Bank, with an outstanding of Rs 143 crore.

The total defaults stand at Rs 4,251 crore. There are six accounts with outstanding of Rs 100 crore or more. Most of the defaults are by iron & steel, power, textiles, real estate, and export firms.

Of the 629 cases of wilful defaults, UCO Bank has already filed suits against 313 firms.

While a few public sector banks have been periodically publishing the list of wilful defaulters, UCO Bank is planning to take up the initiative on a vivid scale by updating it on a monthly basis, and placing the list prominently on its website, according to a senior official of the bank.

A few days ago, Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan had also said the banking regulator was working on a new mechanism to make the list of wilful defaulters public.

"The top management of the bank decided to upload the list of wilful defaulters as the bank's focus is now on wilful defaults. We will be updating the list on a monthly basis. Also, not many banks have been so vociferous in advertising the list on our website as us," said an official at UCO Bank.

For the third quarter of the last financial year, UCO Bank posted a net loss of Rs 1,497 crore, against a net profit Rs 304 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. In the third quarter of FY16, the gross non-performing assets (NPA) stood at 10.98 per cent, while the net NPA was 6.51 per cent.