New Delhi: Private companies and firms account for nearly two-third of the total non-performing assets (NPAs) of public sector banks that is estimated at over Rs 6.16 lakh crore at the end of March this year, showed the latest official data.
According to the latest data shared by the ministry of finance in the Parliament on Tuesday, the total NPAs or bad loans of public sector banks were more than Rs 5.73 lakh crore in March 2019, more than Rs 4.92 lakh crore in March 2020 and over Rs 4.02 lakh crore in March this year.
These bad loans were taken by those entities whose ‘sector code’ has been recorded as ‘private’ in the lending bank’s record.
However, the gross NPAs of the public sector banks during the last three years were at a higher level.
According to the information given by the ministry of finance in the Lok Sabha on Monday, gross NPAs of public sector banks were more than Rs 7.39 lakh crore in March 2019, over Rs 6.78 lakh crore in March last year and more than Rs 6.16 lakh crore in March this year.
Loan recovery at Rs 5 lakh crore
During the last three financial years, public sector banks were able to recover nearly Rs 3.13 lakh crore from the bad loan accounts and written off accounts.
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If one looks at the data of recovery for the last six years then the public sector banks have recovered over Rs 5 lakh crore during that period.
PSBs turn profitable after five years
In 2015-16, the state-owned lenders made aggregate provision for NPAs and other contingencies of more than Rs 1.55 lakh crore. The figure went up to more than Rs 1.7 lakh crore next year and shot up to nearly Rs 2.41 lakh crore in 2017-18 and then declined to over Rs 2.17 lakh crore in 2018-19 and more than Rs 2 lakh crore in 2019-20.
As a result, the public sector banks in the country, as a whole, suffered a net loss of Rs 17,993 crore in 2015-16, Rs 11,389 crore in 2016-17, Rs 85,370 crore in 2017-18, Rs 66,636 crore in 2018-19, which declined to a net aggregate loss of Rs 25,941 crore in FY 2019-20.
However, after five years of aggregate losses, the government banks returned to profitability in the last fiscal as net aggregate profit of public sector banks was Rs 31,820 crore in FY 2020-21.
