Mumbai: Public sector banks (PSBs) wrote off Rs. 2.41 lakh crore worth of loans in over three years, between April 2014 and September 2017. This was disclosed by minister of state for finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said in a written reply in Parliament on Tuesday.

The disclosure came under strong criticism from Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. "I am shocked to see that at a time, when the farmers in the country are crying and committing suicide for their loan burden and asking for waiver of farmers' loan, the Government of India have not even considered that," the West Bengal chief minister said in a Facebook post.

In his reply to the Rajya Sabha, the union finance minister of state said that writing off non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans is a regular exercise conducted by banks to clean up their balance sheet and to achieve taxation efficiency.

"As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data on global operations, public sector banks have written-off (including compromise) an amount of Rs. 2,41,911 crore from financial year 2014-15 till September 2017," the minister said.

Borrowers, however, continue to be liable for repayment despite the write-off, the minister added.

Bank write off is the deduction in the value of earnings by the amount of an expense or loss. It means to remove loans from their balance sheets only and reduce the overall tax liability.

 

 

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Bengaluru(PTI): An Air India Express flight from Bengaluru to Kochi made an emergency landing at Bengaluru after a fire was noticed in one of the engines, the Bangalore International Airport Limited said on Sunday.

All the passengers and crew were evacuated and no one was injured, Air India Express said in a statement. According to sources, the fire was noticed minutes after the take off.

The crew members alerted the Air Traffic Controller and a full scale emergency was declared.

Soon after emergency landing at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru, the fire was extinguished.

"On May 18, 2024, IX 1132 from Bengaluru to Kochi made an emergency landing at BLR Airport at 2312 hrs, due to a reported fire in one of the engines," a spokesperson of the BIAL, which manages KIA, said in a statement.

A full-scale emergency was declared, and the fire was promptly extinguished upon landing. All 179 passengers and six crew members have been successfully evacuated from the aircraft, the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) spokesperson said.

An Air India Express spokesperson said that due to suspected flames from the right engine after takeoff, the Bengaluru- Kochi flight 'elected' to return and carried out a precautionary landing at Bengaluru . The ground services also reported flames, resulting in an evacuation.

"The crew accomplished an evacuation with no injuries to any guests. We regret the inconvenience this has caused and are working to provide alternative arrangements for our guests to reach their destination as soon as possible," it said.

"A thorough investigation with the regulator shall be accomplished to establish the cause,” it said.