Loans worth Rs 10,09,511 cr written off in last five financial years: Sitharaman

Scheduled commercial banks have written off loans amounting to Rs 1009511 crore in the last five financial years and the process of recovery of dues from the borrowers continues Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Lok Sabha on MondaySitharaman said recovery in NPA non performing asset accounts including writtenoff loans was an ongoing processAccording to Reserve Bank of India RBI data public sector banks have recovered Rs 480111 crore including Rs 103045 crore from writtenoff loans during the last five financial years she saidAs per inputs received from the RBI scheduled commercial banks have written off an amount of Rs 1009511 crore during the last five financial years Sitharaman said during Question HourThe borrowers of writtenoff loans continue to be liable for repayment and the process of recovery of dues from the borrower in writtenoff loan accounts continues she addedBanks continue to pursue recovery actions initiated in writtenoff accounts through various recovery mechanisms available Sitharaman addedAlso Read Coordinated efforts taken to contain Chinese loan apps Nirmala Sitharaman in Rajya SabhaThe actions include filing of a suit in civil courts or in Debts Recovery Tribunals action under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act 2002 filing of cases in the National Company Law Tribunal under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 through negotiated settlement and compromise and sale of NPAsTherefore writeoff does not benefit the borrowers she saidThe minister said according to RBI guidelines and policy approved by banks boards NPAs including those in respect of which full provisioning had been made on completion of four years were removed from the balance sheet of the bank concerned by way of writeoffBanks evaluate and consider the impact of writeoffs as part of their regular exercise to clean up their balance sheet avail of tax benefit and optimise capital in accordance with RBI guidelines and policy approved by their boards she saidReplying to a question Sitharaman said the process of retrieving money of small depositors and investors from loan defaulters was very complicated as the legal process was lengthy and there were multiple claimants to the seized assets that included banks and other financial institutionsThe minister said she was aware of the depositors undergoing extreme difficulties and there was a need to look into the issue and how to simplify the processEarlier Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad said names of loan defaulters were not disclosed due to RBI guidelines but their names could be disclosed once their assets were put up for auctionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever