The non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks have risen to Rs 1.27 lakh crore till December last year, Parliament was informed today.
Bank's bad loans stood at Rs 94,084 crore in 2010-11, Rs 81,813 crore in 2009-10 and Rs 68,220 crore in 2008-09, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha in a reply.
"Main reasons for increase in NPAs of banks are due to switch over to System-Based Identification on NPAs, increase in interest rates and lower economic growth during 2011 impacting the repayment capacity of borrowers, especially small and medium enterprises," Mukherjee said.
He said the government and RBI have over the years taken various steps to improve the financial health of banks, reduce bad loans, improve asset quality and for creating a good recovery climate.
RBI has issued guidelines for prevention of slippages, corporate debt restructuring and other restricting schemes.
In a separate written reply to the house, Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said a total of Rs 2,481 crore in 11.2 million accounts was lying as unclaimed deposits with the banks as of December, 2011.
However, RBI has directed all banks to be more pro-active in finding whereabouts of the account holders who have remained inoperative over the years, he added.
RBI has also asked banks to put details of these account holders on their websites as well as to ensure that the amount reaches the genuine claimants.
Also, RBI reported Rs 1,567 lakh loss in 1,184 cases due to defects in ATM machines in last four calendar years, Meena said in another written reply.
