PSBs recovered Rs 1.2 lakh crore from stressed assets in 2018-19, thanks to IBC

The official said that consolidation among PSBs and higher recoveries are the two issues that are going to be high on the agenda of the new government

New Delhi: Public sector banks (PSBs) have recovered around Rs 1.2 lakh crore from assets that were stressed in financial year 2018-19. The recovery was aided by the resolutions achieved under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), an official said. In the first half of the previous fiscal, banks had recovered a total amount of Rs 60,713 crore from bad loans.

Resolution of some big accounts still pending

"Due to non-resolution of some big accounts referred under NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal), PSBs could not achieve the resolution target of Rs 1.80 lakh crore. But, these accounts should be resolved in the current financial year," the official said. Two of the large accounts still pending resolution include Essar Steel and Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd. These two accounts are expected to be resolved in the next few months and are expected to fetch around Rs 50,000 crore.

Because of the resolutions achieved at NCLT, banks recovered a total of Rs 55,000 crore, the official added.

"Compared to Rs 74,562 crore in 2017-18, the recovery in the previous financial year nearly doubled to Rs 1.2 lakh crore," the official said.

Consolidation of PSBs and recoveries on agenda for new govt

The official said that consolidation among public sector banks (PSBs) and higher recoveries are the two issues that are going to be high on the agenda of the new government in the current financial year.

Referring to the liquidity crisis in the non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), the official said, "The government and the Reserve Bank of India will take adequate measures to address the issues plaguing the NBFC sector."