Banks write off Rs 46,382 cr NPA in first half of this fiscal

Banks have written off bad loans amounting to Rs 46,382 crore during the first six months of 2021-22, the finance ministry informed the Lok Sabha on Monday.

As per the RBI guidelines and policy approved by bank boards, non-performing loans, including, inter-alia, those in respect of which full provisioning has been made on completion of four years, are removed from the balance sheet of the bank concerned by way of the write-off.

In a written reply, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad said banks evaluate/consider the impact of write-offs as part of their regular exercise to clean up their balance-sheet, avail of tax benefit and optimise capital, in accordance with the RBI guidelines and policy approved by their boards.

"As per RBI data on global operations, scheduled commercial banks have written-off loans of Rs 46,382 crore during the first six months of the current financial year 2021-22," he said.

The borrowers of written-off loans continue to be liable for repayment and the process of recovery of dues from the borrower in written-off loan accounts continues.

In another reply, Karad said the total loans outstanding of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) stood at Rs 3,34,171 crore at end-March 2021, up from Rs 2,98,214 crore at end-March 2020.

He said RRBs have been playing an important role in purveying agricultural credit, particularly to small and marginal farmers and weaker sections of society.