Non-performing assets of public sector banks at ₹7.27 lakh crore

The Union government on Monday said the Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) stood at ₹7.27 lakh crore as on September 30, 2019. Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur also said in Lok Sabha that scheduled commercial banks and select financial institutions have reported frauds to the tune of ₹1,13,374 crore in the first half of the current financial year.

Thakur said during Question Hour that as a result of transparent recognition of stressed assets as NPAs, gross NPAs of PSBs, as per RBI data on global operations, rose from ₹2,79,016 crore as on March 31, 2015, to ₹6,84,732 crore as on March 31, 2017 and ₹8,95,601 crore as on March 31, 2018.

“As a result of the government’s strategy of recognition, resolution, recapitalisation and reforms, have since declined by ₹1,68,305 crore to ₹7,27,296 crore as on September 30, 2019,” he said.

The minister said systematic and comprehensive checking, including of legacy stock of NPAs of PSBs, for frauds under the framework has been taken note of by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its Financial Stability Report of December 2019,
where it has observed that this has helped unearth frauds perpetrated over a number of years.

This is reflected in the increased amount involved in frauds of ₹1 lakh and above, reported by Scheduled Commercial Banks and select financial institutions, from ₹23,934 crore in the financial year (FY) 2016-17 to ₹41,167 crore in FY2017-18, ₹71,543 crore in FY2018-19, and ₹1,13,374 crore in the first half of the current financial year, he said.