RBI to expand oversight panel for stressed assets

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will add more members to a panel to deal with the large volume of cases involving stressed assets which are referred to it, highlighting its resolve to fight bad debt in Asia's third-largest economy.

The two members of the Oversight Committee will continue to be a part of the panel, while the names of new members will be announced soon, the RBI said in a statement on Monday.

Indian banks have accumulated $133 billion in stressed assets after years of reckless lending.

The central bank is working towards ensuring an objective decision-making process on cases under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) and will form a separate panel, comprised mainly of its independent board members, to advise it in this regard, the RBI said.

Full statement http://bit.ly/2qMvJts

(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; editing by Alexander Smith)