Some progress on bank NPAs: RBI

The RBI has taken several steps to ensure stressed assets can be recognised early on and resolved more prudently

Reserve Bank of India deputy governor S S Mundra says there's some improvement in banks’ non-performing assets (NPAs), given the April-June quarter numbers.

“We are seeing that there is some stability now in the (NPAs) levels. So, we will have to keep a constant watch on how things are developing,” he said at the sidelines of an event here.

He added it was too early for a definitive statement on this, as only some banks had reported their quarterly numbers. ICICI, Kotak Mahindra and State Bank of India were yet to do so.

Among the larger ones which had, Punjab National Bank reported lower gross numbers sequentially, after eight quarters of continuous rise. However, Bank of India reported a sharp rise in its gross NPAs (6.8 per cent), from the final (January-March) quarter of last year.

Some private banks also had marginally higher NPAs in the quarter ended June. For instance, Federal Bank's gross NPA ratio was 2.59 per cent from 2.22 per cent in the corresponding quarter a year before. Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and YES Bank also had a slight rise in bad loans.

“The only thing which can reduce NPAs is the way business is done...nothing else can. Any other method would not be right. It has to be done by the right business practices and right risk management,” said Mundra.

According to RBI's earlier Financial Stability Report. GNPAs in the system had risen from 3.4 per cent in March 2013 to 4.6 per cent in March 2015. Overall stressed advances were 11.1 per cent of the total this March, from 9.2 per cent in March 2013.

RBI has taken several steps to ensure stressed assets can be recognised early on and resolved more prudently. It had enabled the setting up of a joint lenders' forum, with banks coming together to resolve stressed assets. Also, a regulatory forbearance window for asset restructuring.