Equitas Small Finance Bank looking to offload ₹352 bad loans to ARCs

The bank plans to sell ₹308 crore of stressed loans comprising 9,194 accounts on a cash or cash-and-security-receipts basis

Chennai-based Equitas Small Finance Bank (SFB) is looking to sell Rs 352 crore of stressed, secured retail loans in two tranches through open auctions to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) on December 8 and December 16.

 

The bank plans to sell Rs 308 crore of stressed loans comprising 9,194 accounts on a cash or cash-and-security-receipts basis.  The bank has not announced a reserve price for this portfolio and will communicate it after ARCs submit their expressions of interest. The bidding for this tranche will take place on December 16.

 

Separately, the SFB is looking to offload another Rs 44.11 crore of stressed loans, involving 1,141 accounts, also on a cash or cash-and-security-receipts basis. The reserve price for this tranche will similarly be disclosed after expressions of interest are received.

 

The bank has sold its NPA assets (secured portfolio) amounting to Rs 216 crore to an ARC in Q2FY26.

 

As of September, the bank’s gross loan book stood at Rs 39,123 crore. The bank reported gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of 2.82 per cent and net NPAs of 0.95 per cent.

 

Last week, Kolkata-headquartered Bandhan Bank said it would sell unsecured retail bad loans, including written-off accounts, worth Rs 6,931.31 crore to ARCs and other permitted entities — one of the largest retail loan sale exercises by a private sector lender. Most of these stressed assets originated from its microfinance portfolio.