Bad loans mess: Parliamentary panel asks bankers to draft a plan to deal with rising NPAs

New Delhi: Parliamentarians on Monday asked bankers to prepare a road map to deal with mounting bad loans in the system, which touched Rs 8.31 lakh crore at end-December 2017. It was also emphasised during a meeting of the bankers with Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headed by Lok Sabha MP Verappa Moily, that corporates should not be painted with a same brush as all are not wilful defaulters, said sources. [caption id=“attachment_4495585” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] Among others, SBI Chairperson Rajnish Kumar and PNB MD Sunil Mehta briefed the panel on various aspects of non-performing assets (NPAs) and banking frauds. RBI Governor Urjit Patel too will brief the committee later this month. Gross NPAs of state-owned banks had crossed Rs 7.77 lakh crore at the end of December 2017, according to official data. During the meeting, one of the committee members also wondered why pubic money was being used to recapitalise the state-owned banks which are losing money due to frauds and defaults by corporates, sources added. The committee was earlier briefed by Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar about issues related to the banking sector. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is also a member of the committee, is likely to attend the meeting.