IDBI Bank prepares roadmap for NPA reduction, improving financial health

State-owned IDBI Bank has prepared a comprehensive plan for improving its financial health and reducing stressed assets in light of RBI's recent communication pointing out various weaknesses in the lender.

The bank has also identified various non-core assets and real estate properties for sale to shore up its capital, sources said.

The bank, which is one of the richest in terms of real estate assets, recently got them valued at market rate and made it part of core capital, sources said, adding that this has strengthened the balance sheet of the lender.

Last month, the bank concluded a deal to sell one of its buildings located in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in the city to the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for about Rs 10 billion.

This was in addition to a strong dose of capital infusion to the tune of Rs 78.81 billion on March 27. This was the remaining portion of capital infusion of Rs 106.10 billion planned by the Government of India for IDBI Bank for 2017-18, aimed at meeting the minimum Tier 1 capital requirements of IDBI Bank.

A sum of Rs 27.29 billion was infused last year. Prior the recent series of capital infusion, the government had 77.8 per cent stake in the bank.

RBI, in its communication to the Finance Ministry, had also raised the need for more robust risk assessment and improvement in credit underwriting standard. The bank is in the process of addressing these two concerns, sources said.

It is to be noted that IDBI Bank is under RBI's prompt corrective action (PCA) framework. Gross non-performing loans were pegged at Rs 506.22 billion at the end of December 2017, 24.72 per cent of advances. It reported a net loss of Rs 15.42 billion in the December 2017 quarter.

Strategies have been drawn to ensure that the NPAs are reduced in a structured manner by taking help of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and other means, sources said.

Further, RBI's recent guidelines have also set the strict timeline for recovery of various stressed assets under the IBC. The central bank has withdrawn the mechanism which included Corporate Debt Restructuring Scheme, Strategic Debt Restructuring Scheme (SDR) and Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A).

The Joint Lenders' Forum (JLF) as an institutional mechanism for resolution of stressed accounts was also discontinued.