• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Sarbajeet K. Sen

NEW DELHI, Sept. 17

A HANDFUL of big fishes in the troubled waters of non-performing assets (NPAs) of public sector banks have gobbled up big money. According to figures available with the Ministry of Finance, high-value defaults exceeding dues of Rs 5 crore each accounted for Rs 22,866 crore of bad debts of the 27 PSU banks as on March 31, 2002 through 1,741 accounts.

This amounted to 40 per cent of the total NPAs of the banks that aggregated to about Rs 61,000 crore at that time.

The figures on high-value NPAs were compiled by the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) and submitted to the Finance Ministry for the aborted meeting of public sector banks chiefs with the then Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, which was scheduled for late August.

Out of the total high-value defaults, the banks had filed recovery suits in 816 cases involving a total value of Rs 10,657 crore, while 586 cases were pending before the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) with an aggregate bad assets of Rs 8,163 crore.

Besides this, 114 cases were under rehabilitation involving Rs 1,905 crore, while negotiations for settlement were being held in 157 cases involving Rs 2,769 crore.

The banks were considering action in the remaining 236 accounts involving NPAs of Rs 2,847 crore.

It has been clarified that figures relating to the total suit filed accounts include a few cases pending before BIFR since reference to the board was made after filing of the suit. Thus, due to the overlap the total number of NPA accounts in the break-up exceeds the number of total accounts with defaults of Rs 5 crore and above.

While the high-value NPAs of the State Bank group, including SBI and its seven associates, accounted for Rs 8,791 crore involving 578 accounts, the share of the remaining 19 nationalised banks amounted to Rs 14,075 crore through 1,163 accounts.

At an individual level, the five banks with largest high-value defaults were SBI aggregating Rs 7,426 crore through 436 accounts, followed by Punjab National Bank with Rs 2,182 crore through 140 accounts, Bank of India Rs 1,829 crore, 115 accounts, Bank of Baroda Rs 1,608 crore, 117 accounts and Central Bank of India Rs 1,126 crore, 85 accounts.

Among the nationalised banks, Dena Bank followed Central Bank with defaults aggregating Rs 1,042 crore in 77 accounts, followed by Canara Bank (Rs 931 crore, 159 accounts), Allahabad Bank (Rs 851 crore, 59 accounts), Indian Overseas Bank (Rs 825 crore, 57 accounts), Indian Bank (Rs 819 crore, 93 accounts), Union Bank of India (Rs 612 crore, 56 accounts), Oriental Bank of Commerce (Rs 420 crore, 36 accounts), Punjab and Sind Bank (Rs 370 crore, 32 accounts), United Bank of India (Rs 358 crore, 32 accounts), Syndicate Bank (Rs 260 crore, 26 accounts), Bank of Maharashtra (Rs 255 crore, 25 accounts), UCO Bank (Rs 231 crore, 17 accounts), Corporation Bank (Rs 186 crore, 18 accounts), Vijaya Bank (Rs 97 crore, 11 accounts) and Andhra bank (Rs 73 crore, eight accounts).

Among the SBI associates, State Bank of Hyderabad led the way with defaults of Rs 369 crore involving 35 accounts, followed by State Bank of Travancore (Rs 253 crore, 25 accounts), State Bank of Patiala (Rs 220 crore, 23 accounts), State Bank of Mysore (Rs 186 crore, 20 accounts) State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (Rs 152 crore, 19 accounts), State Bank of Saurashtra (Rs 130 crore, 15 accounts) and State Bank of Indore (Rs 55 crore, five accounts).

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section
VSNL dials wrong number for MEA dues

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line