Recovery of bad loans declines: Govt in RS

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New Delhi, March 14

The recovery of written-off amounts by banks has been declining over the years, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s figures quoted by the government in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

In 2021-22, the recovery by debt tribunals and the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (SARFAESI Act) was Rs 39,463 crore and in 2020-21 it was about Rs 35,700 crore. But recoveries were higher in the preceding years — Rs 45,000 crore in 2019-20 and Rs 49,600 crore in 2018-19, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad said in a written reply to a question by Vikramjit Singh Sahney.

As per inputs received from the RBI, scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) have written off Rs 2.36 lakh crore in 2018-19, Rs 2.34 lakh crore in 2019-20, Rs 2.02 lakh crore in 2020-21 and Rs 1.74 lakh crore in 2021-22.

The minister explained that banks write off NPAs as part of their regular exercise to clean up their balance sheet, avail tax benefit and optimise capital in accordance with RBI norms.