State Bank of India holds 33 per cent of the total non-performing assets (NPAs) held by public sector banks, according to the finance ministry.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, today stated that according to the provisional data from the Reserve Bank of India, gross NPAs of public sector banks (PSBs), as on June 2012, was Rs 1,23,462 crore – 3.48 per cent of the advances.
“State Bank of India has gross NPAs of Rs 40,756 crore, which amounts to 5.26 per cent of gross advances made by the bank and 33 per cent of the gross NPAs of PSBs,” said Chidambaram.
The finance minister pointed out that the government had advised PSBs to take a number of initiatives to increase the pace of recovery and manage NPAs, including appointing nodal officers and conducting special drives. The entities have been asked to put in place an early warning system and proactively pursue loan issues with state governments.
