Recoveries from stressed assets will be much better in H2FY20: SBI Chairman

Rajnish Kumar is hopeful that resolution time of stressed asets will fall below 5 years

State Bank of India today said recoveries from stressed assets are expected to be much better in the second half of current financial year on the back of resolution in big ticket cases.

The third and fourth quarters of current financial year will be good ( for recovery) and many assets will be resolved in quarter ending March and June, SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar said in an Interaction at Credit Conclave organised by Edelweiss group.

Going forward, there will also be substantial improvement in the eco system for resolution of stressed assets. There have been timely and useful amendments to Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code ( IBC).

The wait for resolution will come down from five years taken earlier, SBI chairman said.

Gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio at 7.19 per cent was down 276 basis points year-on-year as well as 34 basis points sequentially. In absolute terms also, gross NPA declined.

The net NPA ratio at 2.79 per cent was down 205 basis points year-on-year as well as 28 basis points sequentially. In absolute terms also, net NPA declined.

The gross slippage at Rs 8,805 crore during Q2 FY20 declined from Rs 16,212 crore during Q1 FY20 while provision coverage ratio (PCR) improved significantly by 1,049 basis points year-on-year from 70.74 per cent as on September last year to 81.23 per cent in September 2019. Sequentially also, PCR improved by 189 basis points.

Referring to uptick in credit demand, Rajnish Kumar said the situation is better than what was August. The use of working capital has been low. But credit growth has been higher than deposit growth for his bank in October-December 2019.

On query about credit availability, he said for those who deserve credit, there are enough banks to give money.

Banks are not going to lower credit assessment standards. Corporates have not covered themselves well in recent past ( read quality of managing units and governance and financial profile). In such scenario, we can't ignore it ( thorough scrutiny).