Punjab National Bank identifies 400 wilful defaulters, to sell 3K cr NPAs

Saddled with bad loans, Punjab National Bank (PNB) said on Tuesday it has reported to RBI 400 'wilful defaulters', and plans to sell non-performing assets worth up to Rs 3,000 crore to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) in the current fiscal.

"400 accounts are there (wilful defaulters) which we have reported to RBI so that it (list) can updated on website of RBI, Punjab National Bank Executive Director (with additional charge of MD and CEO) Gauri Shankar said in New Delhi.

He also said the bank has identified corporate accounts and the work is underway for their strategic debt restructuring as per the Reserve Bank of India guidelines. "Let me tell you, 4-5 companies' accounts (stressed assets), we have already identified. Work is on for strategic debt restructuring, which we are going to do as per RBI guidelines," he said.

The fresh restructuring done during the first quarter is just Rs 676 crore in 22 accounts, he added.

The sectors in which restructuring has taken place include power and steel. Shankar said PNB plans to sell NPAs worth Rs 2,600-3,000 crore to Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) in the current financial year, ending March 31, 2016.

On the bank's going to qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), he said it would be done next fiscal. Pulled down by higher bad loan provisioning, PNB's net profit during the June quarter nearly halved to Rs 721 crore. PNB's first quarter net profit of current fiscal on Tuesday showed a 48.68 per cent decline from Rs 1,405 crore reported the same quarter of 2014-15 fiscal.