RBI acts to counter bad loans

Central bank wants to improve early identification and timely restructuring of assets

India's central bank on Thursday released a framework to help banks recover bad debts in an effort to ease the financial stress on lenders as the Indian economy slows.

The Reserve Bank of India wants to improve early identification and timely restructuring of assets and, amongst other measures, proposed reforming the restructuring process by mandating independent evaluation of large value restructurings.

In December the central bank had proposed rules for early detection of financial distress. Concern over banks' bad loans has been growing among Indian policymakers in recent months as economic growth subsided to its slowest pace in a decade.

Stressed loans in India - those categorised as bad and restructured - total $100 billion, or about 10% of all loans.