Parliamentary Panel suo motu examines NPAs in public banks

Worried over rising bad loans, a Parliamentary Panel has suo motu decided to examine the non-performing assets (NPAs) of the public sector banks (PSBs) that touched Rs 3.61 lakh crore at the end of December 2015.

"We examined chairpersons of the PSBs as well as Governor of Reserve Bank (Raghuram Rajan)," Chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) K V Thomas told reporters here on Friday.

He said that apart from Comptroller and auditor general of India's reports, PAC also selected certain subjects "suo motu", including one on the NPAs of PSBs.

Read more from our special coverage on "NPA"

• Trimming of bad loan list by RBI is carrot for others to behave
• Separate morality from NPA clean-up, says Rajan
• Woes for Indians banks to continue in FY17: S&P
• Banks order forensic audit of accounts at first hint of trouble
• Banks see a plunge in advance tax payments as NPAs bite

 

"Now we have received the reply from the governor of the RBI a few days back and that will be further examined," Thomas said, adding, "It is on basis of our observations, government appointed a high powered committee to study about the NPA."

At the end of December, as many as 701 accounts with bad loans exceeding Rs 100 crore owed PSBs Rs 1.63 lakh crore, with the State Bank of India accounting for the biggest chunk.

Gross NPAs of PSBs rose to Rs 3.61 lakh crore at the end of December 2015.

According to the government, the main reasons for rise in NPAs are sluggishness in the domestic growth in the recent past, slow recovery in the global economy and continuing uncertainty in global markets leading to lower exports of various products such as textiles and leather.