Wilful defaults by PNB's big borrowers slip further to Rs 15,200 cr by April-end

State-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) saw wilful defaults by big borrowers slipping further to Rs 15,199.57 crore in April this year over the previous month, soon after suffering a record loss of more than Rs 13,400 crore for January-March due to frauds and bad loans.  The bank which posted a record loss of more than Rs 13,400 crore for the last quarter of 2017-18 closed the fiscal with big wilful defaults of Rs 15,171.91 crore, according to the PNB data. 

Big wilful defaulters are categorised by PNB as those borrowers with loan outstanding of Rs 25 lakh and over. The country's second largest public sector lender is already in troubled waters due to the Rs 14,357 crore fraud allegedly carried out by celebrity jewellery designer Nirav Modi and his associates.
Major defaulters in big borrowers category include Kudos Chemie Rs 1,301.82 crore; Kingfisher Airlines Rs 597.44 crore; BBF Industries Rs 100.99 crore; ICSA (India) Ltd Rs 134.76 crore; Arvind Remedies Rs 158.16 crore and Indu Projects Ltd Rs 102.83 crore.

Jas Infrastructure and Power Limited Rs 410.96 crore; VMC Systems Ltd Rs 296.08 crore; MBS Jewellers Pvt Ltd Rs 266.17 crore also figured in the list. These borrowers were part of the consortium lending by PNB. Those among key borrowers who borrowed money solely from the bank included Winsome Diamonds and Jewellery Ltd Rs 899.70 crore; Zoom Developers Rs 410.18 crore; Forever Precious Jewellery & Diamonds Ltd Rs 747.98 crore.

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Of the others are Surya Vinayak Industries Rs 133.96 crore; Nafed Rs 224.24 crore; and Mahuaa Media Rs 104.86 crore. The scam-hit bank earlier last week posted a standalone net loss of Rs 13,416.91 crore for the January-March period of 2017-18, the biggest ever by any domestic lender, as bad loans surged.
As a result, provisions for the bad loans jumped four-fold to Rs 16,202.82 crore for the quarter under review compared to Rs 4,910.39 crore parked aside in the same period a year ago. For the full fiscal 2017-18, bank posted standalone loss of Rs 12,282.82 crore against a profit of Rs 1,324.80 crore in 2016-17. Bank's asset quality has witnessed sharp deterioration as gross net performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans, hit 18.38 per cent of gross advances at the end of March this year, as against 12.53 per cent a year ago.

Net NPAs were also soared to 11.24 per cent against 7.81 per cent year ago. In absolute term, the gross NPA of the bank surged to Rs 86,620 crore in the fourth quarter as compared to Rs 55,370 crore in same quarter a year ago. Similarly, the net NPA also rose to Rs 48,684.29 crore from Rs 32,702 crore at the end of March 2017.