Rs 54,000 crore loans by public sector banks turn into NPAs, says Jayant Sinha

As many as 17 projects out of 74 which were provided loans to the tune of Rs 54,056.75 crore have turned non-performing assets (NPAs) during 2014-15, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

However, the minister did not provide projectwise details citing confidentiality on borrower-specific credit information and said that it is prohibited from disclosure.

In these cases of loans turning NPAs, the minister said that Rs 1,308.72 crore loan amountMo was written off while interest of Rs 548.67 crore was waived during 2014-15.

He added that banks failed to recover loans and checking increase in NPAs on account of reasons such as poor industrial scenario, low profitability, delay in getting statutory approval resulting in projects getting extended as well as escalation in cost of project and postponement of date of commencement of commercial operations.

Meanwhile, credit rating firm Crisil said that asset quality woes may turn worse for banks with their gross NPAs expected to rise by Rs 60,000 crore this fiscal to Rs 4 lakh crore.