Syndicate Bank to step up recovery from next quarter

Syndicate Bank Chairman and Managing Director Sudhir Kumar Jain on Saturday said the bank expected to reduce stressed assets through recovery and upgrade from the next quarter.

For the quarter ended June 2013, the bank's net non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to 1.19 per cent, against 0.93 per cent in the year-ago period. The bank's management has set up a stressed tiny assets recovery team to monitor the accounts with loans of Rs 4 lakh or more, as most of the bank's NPAs fall in the retail category. "Our exposure to large corporate accounts involving stalled infrastructure projects is just about Rs 1,000 crore. Therefore, the renewed focus on recovery of small loans by our staff will improve the situation," Jain said.

The process of restructuring loans would continue in the coming quarters, as this was necessary to help the clients affected by business cycles, he said, adding in the quarter ended June, the bank restructured loans worth Rs 883 crore.

Jain said there was no move to increase interest rates, as the bank felt the Reserve Bank of India's recent money-tightening measures were temporary.

The bank aims to record overall business of Rs 3.8 lakh crore by the end of this financial year, against Rs 3.34 lakh crore in the previous financial year.