Banks take e-route to auction bad assets

Defaulters' properties are now being sold by various banks on a dedicated portal called NPAsource.com

Planning to buy a house and want to search for properties on the internet? Real estate portals are the not the only options that are available to you.

With mounting pressure on the asset quality banks are taking the electronic route to list and auction their bad assets including premium residential flats and industrial lands. Public sector banks like State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and many others have started positing the recovery notices for their bad assets on NPAsource.com.

The dedicated website for resolution of non-performing assets (NPA) of banks and financial institutions even allow buyers to modify their search in terms of geography, asset type and value.

"We have been meeting all senior bank officials associated with NPA recoveries and creating awareness among them about the benefits that would accrue to them if they were to utilise NPAsource.com as another alternative to resolve NPAs," Devendra Jain, chairman of Atishya Group that owns the portal, said.

"We have made our first breakthrough by getting banks like SBI to start posting their NPA recovery notices on NPAsource.com. In the coming months we hope to see more action on the portal as deals between buyers and banks begin to take place on a regular basis," he added.

The Gujarat Urban Co-operative Banks Federation, the apex body for the 244 urban co-operative banks in the state, has recommended all its member banks to use the portal to resolve their NPA related problems.

NPAsource.com currently has over 1,000 registered users comprising of banks, corporates, chartered accountancy firms, lawyers, tax consultants and real estate brokers. It has registered properties, which are classified as bad assets, worth Rs 13,000 crore in the first year of its operations.

Jain said the company has recently opened an office in Dubai and is trying to persuade a few banks there to use the portal to resolve their NPA problems. The aim is also to get their corporate clients consider buying of NPA properties in India.