Bank stocks surge as FM promises solution to bad loans

Shares of public sector banks rose by up to 4.5 % today after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley promised a solution to the growing NPA problem within next few days.

The scrip of Bank of India rose by 4.5 %, Bank of Baroda surged 4.16 %, Union Bank of India (3.18 %), PNB (3 %) and SBI (2.49 %) on BSE.

See live bank share prices here.

Buying was also seen in private lenders, with ICICI Bank trading 3.03 % higher and AXIS Bank 0.83 % up.

Promising a solution to the growing NPA problem in the next few days, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday said the resolution being worked out with the RBI will put enough pressure on borrowers to settle dues.

He blamed the bad loans of public sector banks on just 30-50 companies, saying accounts of these will have to be fixed to solve the issue.

The gross NPAs of public sector banks have risen to Rs 6.06 lakh crore in December 2016, from Rs 5.02 lakh crore at the end of March 2016.