PSBs filed over 2,500 FIRs against wilful defaulters till Sept-end: Jaitley

Public sector banks (PSBs) have filed more than 2,500 FIRs against wilful defaulters till September-end and have started the recovery process, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley informed Parliament Friday.

"As per data reported by PSBs, till September 30, 2018, 2,571 FIRs have been registered against wilful defaulters, 9,363 suits have been filed for recovery from them, and action has been initiated under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 in respect of 7,616 cases of wilful defaulters," Jaitley said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

He added that a number of steps have been taken by the government and the RBI to deter wilful defaulters and help make recovery.

"As per RBI's instructions, wilful defaulters are not sanctioned any additional facilities by banks or financial institutions, their unit is debarred from floating new ventures for five years and lenders may initiate criminal proceedings against them," the minister said.

On why the names of wilful defaulters of PSBs cannot be made public, Jaitley said the list of suit-filed defaulters of Rs 10 million and above and the list of suit-filed defaulters of Rs 2.5 million and above are available in public domain on the websites of the Credit Information Companies (CICs).

"RBI has also apprised that the list of non-suit filed defaulters of Rs 1 crore and above and non-suit filed wilful defaulters of Rs 25 lakh and above is confidential in nature and is exempted from disclosure under section 45E of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934," Jaitley informed the lower house of Parliament.

In response to a separate question on loans outstanding from corporate houses and farmers and related NPAs, he said there were 568 borrowers who had bad loans with scheduled commercial banks, excluding individuals/PSUs, worth Rs 6.29 trillion, of which 95 borrowers had aggregate gross NPAs of over Rs 10 billion, involving funded outstanding of Rs 5.57 trillion as on September 30, 2018.

RBI has also apprised that gross NPAs in agriculture and allied activities were Rs 1.02 trillion as at September 30, 2018, Jaitley said.