Banks' NPA steadily rising, reached Rs 7.77 mn till Dec 2017: MoS Finance

MoS for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said gross non-performing assets under the 'Industry-Large' category for all banks soared to Rs 5.27 trn as on Dec 2017 from Rs 1.23 trn on March 31, 2015

The finance ministry on Friday informed the Lok Sabha that bad loans in the banking sector have been rising steadily for the past eight years and in case of state-run banks it crossed Rs 7.77 trillion at December-end 2017.

In different written replies in the house, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said gross non-performing assets (NPAs) under the 'Industry-Large' category for all banks soared to Rs 5.27 trillion as on December 2017 from Rs 1.23 trillion on March 31, 2015.

Citing RBI data, the minister said the gross NPAs of public sector banks on December 31, 2017 was Rs 7.77 trillion.

"As per the RBI data, gross NPAs of scheduled commercial banks have been rising steadily since the last eight financial years," Shukla said.

In another reply, the minister said that corporate lending by banks has increased from Rs 31.12 trillion in March 2013 to Rs 40.66 trillion at December-end 2017.