State Banks Gross Npas Exceed 3 Fis Combine

State Bank of India's (SBI) gross non-performing assets (NPAs) exceed the combined sticky accounts of three financial institutions - Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), ICICI and IFCI.

While SBI's gross NPAs at the end of March 2001 amounted to Rs 15,875 crore, the three FIs together had NPAs of Rs 15,249 crore. SBI's NPAs do not include those of its subsidiaries, which had additional sticky accounts of Rs 4,427 crore, according to a statement made by minister of state for finance Balasaheb Vikhe Patil in Lok Sabha on Friday.

Of the subsidiaries, State Bank of Hyderabad topped the list with gross NPAs of Rs 884 crore.

Among the institutions, IDBI had the maximum gross NPAs which amounted to Rs 8,370 crore at the end of March 2001. IDBI's NPAs exceeded the combined bad and doubtful accounts of the other two large FIs. IFCI's gross NPAs stood at Rs 3,897 crore at the end of March this year and while ICICI had Rs 2,982 crore NPAs on its books.

At the end of March 2001, the combined NPAs of the 27 public sector banks was estimated at Rs 54,482 crore, while those of six institutions, which includes IIBI, Exim Bank and Sidbi, amounted to Rs 16,455 crore. At the end of March 2001, the total NPAs in the state-owned banks and FIs was thus estimated at Rs 70,937 crore as against Rs 69,662 crore at the end of the previous fiscal, with banks share amounting to Rs 52,696 crore.

According to the data tabled in Parliament, SBI also topped the list of fraud cases committed against it. At the end of 2000, the bank had 551 frauds, with five committed abroad. the amount involved is estimated at Rs 269.15 crore. For the 27 nationalised banks the amounts involved in frauds is estimated at Rs 538.56 crore.