<p>Public sector banks reduced their bad loans (NPAs) by close to Rs 61,000 crore in the first six months (April-Sept) of the current financial year, which is two times more than the NPAs they shed through recovery in the same period last year, the finance ministry said in Parliament on Thursday.</p>.<p>The reduction seems insignificant given the fact that the gross NPAs of state-owned lenders have reached close to Rs 9 lakh crore. However, the Centre may use it as an ammunition to push for increased credit to businesses and ask the Reserve Bank of India to free up a few banks from its stringent lending norms when it holds its crucial board meeting on Friday. The government has two of its strong members in the board — Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg and S Gurumurthy.</p>.<p>“PSBs reported record recovery of Rs 60,713 crore in the first half (April-Sept) of 2018-19, which is more than double the recovery made in the first half of 2017-18,” Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said in Rajya Sabha in reply to a question. He said bad loans of PSBs have reduced by Rs 2.61 lakh crore in four and a half years of NDA rule.</p>.<p>According to the minister, the 30-day plus overdue accounts that are known as special mention accounts have also reduced steadily to around 39% over five quarters from Rs 2.25 lakh crore in June 2017 to Rs. 0.87 lakh crore in September 2018 for PSBs. The minister said it indicated a “sustained and significant” reduction in risk of fresh NPAs and an improvement in the asset quality of banks.</p>.<p>An RBI report recently, too, had suggested that the worst of non-performing asset problems in the public sector banks might be over and that credit growth was expected to be back.</p>.<p>The aggregate Gross NPAs of state-owned lenders increased from Rs 2,29,278 crore as on March 2014 to Rs 8,95,600 crore as on March 2018 as per RBI data on domestic operations.</p>
<p>Public sector banks reduced their bad loans (NPAs) by close to Rs 61,000 crore in the first six months (April-Sept) of the current financial year, which is two times more than the NPAs they shed through recovery in the same period last year, the finance ministry said in Parliament on Thursday.</p>.<p>The reduction seems insignificant given the fact that the gross NPAs of state-owned lenders have reached close to Rs 9 lakh crore. However, the Centre may use it as an ammunition to push for increased credit to businesses and ask the Reserve Bank of India to free up a few banks from its stringent lending norms when it holds its crucial board meeting on Friday. The government has two of its strong members in the board — Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg and S Gurumurthy.</p>.<p>“PSBs reported record recovery of Rs 60,713 crore in the first half (April-Sept) of 2018-19, which is more than double the recovery made in the first half of 2017-18,” Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said in Rajya Sabha in reply to a question. He said bad loans of PSBs have reduced by Rs 2.61 lakh crore in four and a half years of NDA rule.</p>.<p>According to the minister, the 30-day plus overdue accounts that are known as special mention accounts have also reduced steadily to around 39% over five quarters from Rs 2.25 lakh crore in June 2017 to Rs. 0.87 lakh crore in September 2018 for PSBs. The minister said it indicated a “sustained and significant” reduction in risk of fresh NPAs and an improvement in the asset quality of banks.</p>.<p>An RBI report recently, too, had suggested that the worst of non-performing asset problems in the public sector banks might be over and that credit growth was expected to be back.</p>.<p>The aggregate Gross NPAs of state-owned lenders increased from Rs 2,29,278 crore as on March 2014 to Rs 8,95,600 crore as on March 2018 as per RBI data on domestic operations.</p>
