What ails the great Indian asset sale?

For speedy recovery, banks must use the threat of NCLT but settle the score outside it

In September, after the annual review meeting with the chiefs of public sector banks, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that non-performing assets with these banks were on the decline and Rs 1.8 trillion worth of recovery of bad loans could happen during fiscal year 2019.

According to him, in the first quarter of the year, the lenders recovered Rs 365.5 billion. This is 49 per cent higher than the corresponding quarter of the last year. During entire 2018, banks recovered Rs 745.6 billion. “It’s still early days of the IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code), but already the impact is clearly visible,”