Government banks wrote off Rs 2.42 lakh cr NPAs in 3 years

State-run banks have written off nearly Rs 2.42 lakh crore worth of non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans, between April 2014 and September 2017, Parliament was told on Wednesday.

Minister of State of Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that writing off is a regular exercise undertaken by banks to clean up their balance sheets and achieve taxation efficiency.

"As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data on global operations, public sector banks have written off (including compromise) an amount of Rs 2,41,911 crore from financial year 2014-15 till September 2017.

"Borrowers of such written-off loans continue to be liable for repayment," the Minister said.

Shukla also said that recovery of dues is an ongoing activity under the legal mechanism, including the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets (SARFAESI) Act and debt recovery tribunals (DRTs).

"Therefore, write offs do not benefit borrowers."

Shukla said the RBI has apprised it that borrower-wise credit information is not available for disclosure as required by the RBI Act.

Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas, who heads the Insolvency Law Committee which made public its recommendations on Tuesday, told reporters on Wednesday that less than half of the staggering Rs 9 lakh crore worth of NPAs of banks had returned due to the system set in place by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) enacted by Parliament in 2016.

--IANS

bc/him/mr