Dues owed to PNB by big willful defaulters fall by 1.8% to Rs 151.75 bn

Liabilities of big willful defaulters of scam-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB) fell by 1.8 per cent to Rs 151.75 billion by July-end over the previous month, according the state-run's bank data.

Big willful defaulters are those who took loans of over Rs 2.5 million from the bank.

Such borrowers had an outstanding of Rs 153.55 billion at end of June this year.

Among major defaulters who took loans solely from PNB included Winsome Diamonds & Jewellery Rs 8.99 billion; Forever Precious Jewellery & Diamonds Ltd Rs 7.47 billion; Zoon Developers Rs 4.10 billion; Shree Sidhbali Ispat Rs 1.65 billion; Ramsarup Nirmaan Wires Rs 1.48 billion; S Kumar Nationwide Rs 1.46 billion.

Among others were Ramsarup Industrial Corporation Rs 1.33 billion; Ramsarup Lohh Udyog Rs 1.29 billion; Mahuaa Media Rs 1.04 billion; KG Corporation Rs 0.98 billion and Vishal Exports Overseas Rs 983 million.

Those who borrowed money through a consortium lending from several banks were Kudos Chemie Rs 13.01 billion, Kingfisher Airlines Rs 5.97 billion; Jas Infrastructure and Power Ltd Rs 4.10 billion; VMC Systems Ltd Rs 2.96 billion; MBS Jewellers Rs 2.66 billion; Arvind Remedies Ltd Rs 1.58 billion; ICSA (India) Ltd Rs 1.34 billion.

Of the others included: Bhawani Industries Rs 1. 06 billion; Tulsi Extrusion Rs 1.75 billion, Vibha Agrotech Rs 1.25 billion; Indu Projects Rs 1.02 billion; BBF Industries Rs 1.01 billion and Rupana Paper Mills Rs 1.01 billion.

Punjab National Bank which was hit by a scam of more than Rs 140 billion unearthed earlier in February allegedly carried out by jeweller Nirav Modi and his associates, posted a net loss of Rs 9.40 billion in the first quarter ended June of the current fiscal.

In 2017-18, the lender had registered a net loss of Rs 122.83 billion - the highest ever by any bank in India so far, due to rising bad loans and parking huge sum to cover for losses due to the scam.

The bank made a recovery from bad loans to the tune of Rs 77 billion in the first quarter ended June, 2018-19 as a result of its turnaround strategy it adopted last year.

The bank's gross NPAs or bad loans as on June end stood at Rs 828.89 billion -- 18.26 per cent of the gross advances.