The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Viral Acharya on Wednesday joined the debate over creating a so-called "bad bank" to handle record sour assets in the nation's banks, saying it could help if "designed properly".
Banks in India had record stressed loans of $133 billion, or 12.34% of their total loans, as of last September.
About two dozen state-owned lenders, which own nearly 70% of India's banking assets, have an even higher stressed-loan ratio of 15.88%, according to data compiled by India's central bank.
In its economic survey released on January 31, the Finance ministry suggested setting up a bad bank that