SBI writes off Rs 76,600 crore of 220 defaulters, RTI query reveals
As on March 31, 2019, the SBI has declared as unrecoverable outstanding worth Rs 37,700 crore that 33 borrowers, with loans of Rs 500 crore and more, owed to it.
In a first, the latest information, furnished by the RBI to CNN-News18 under the Right To Information Act, has disclosed the bank-wise break up where loans more than Rs 100 crore and Rs 500 crore were written off by the banks as on March 31, 2019.
A total of Rs 2.75 lakh crore has been written off for entities that borrowed Rs 100 crore or more from scheduled commercial banks. The latest statistics divulge that Rs 67,600 crore were declared as bad debts for those given loans of Rs 500 crore and more.
As on March 31, 2019, the SBI has declared as unrecoverable outstanding worth Rs 37,700 crore that 33 borrowers, with loans of Rs 500 crore and more, owed to it.
As many as 980 borrowers have been enlisted by the RBI whose debts of more than Rs 100 crore each had to be written off by the banks. Out of these, 220 accounts – more than one-fifth of the total number – belonged to SBI. An average of Rs 348 crore was waived off in respect of each such account.
Out of 71 total accounts reported as having defaulted in loans of over and above Rs 500 crore each, SBI’s share turned out to be 33 to 46 per cent of the total.
Similarly, as on March 31, Punjab National Bank (PNB) had waived off debts of at least Rs 100 crore each in respect of 94 borrowers. The gross amount came out to be Rs 27,024 crore, with an average of Rs 287 crore per account.
PNB also wrote off loans of Rs 500 crore or more for 12 biggest defaulters, totaling Rs 9,037 crore.
While SBI and PNB topped the list among the public sector banks, IDBI stood at the top among the private banks. IDBI also came third among all the scheduled commercial banks in declaring bad debts of Rs 100 crore or more.
IDBI had 71 borrowers of Rs 100 crore and more, with a total outstanding of Rs 26,219 crore written off.
Canara Bank too had 63 accounts with outstanding of Rs 100 crore and more, and another 7 accounts with borrowings of Rs 500 crore and more, in respect of which loans worth Rs 27,382 crore.
The list of borrowers with Rs 100 crore and more as outstanding having been declared as bad loans is followed by Bank of India with 56 accounts, Corporation Bank with 50 accounts, Bank of Baroda with 46 accounts and Central Bank of India with 45 accounts.
Among the private banks, Axis Bank had 43 such borrowers, followed by ICICI Bank having 37 such accounts.
Similarly, Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank had 4 defaulters each, owing more than Rs 500 crore when their loans were written off.
The data has been accessed by the CNN-News18 through a series of RTI applications, following the Supreme Court judgments that directed the RBI to disclose relevant information on the NPAs and bad debts under the RTI Act.
Courtesy: www.cnbctv18.com
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NIA court to complete framing of charges against 2010 hand-chopping case accused on May 15
Kochi (PTI): A special court here will complete proceedings for framing charges against the prime accused in the 2010 hand-chopping case involving professor T J Joseph, in which PFI activists were accused of attacking him at Muvattupuzha.
Ernakulam Special Court for NIA cases judge P K Mohandas, on April 30, heard the arguments of counsel for accused Savad and Shafeer C and decided to proceed with framing charges against the duo.
A group chopped off Thodupuzha Newman College professor Joseph's right hand in July 2010, accusing him of religious blasphemy in a question paper he had prepared.
The case, later taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), resulted in the conviction of 19 accused.
The first accused, Savad, who allegedly chopped off Joseph’s palm, was arrested in Berram in Mattannur, Kannur, in January 2024, where he had allegedly been hiding under the pseudonym Shajahan.
The NIA also arrested Shafeer, who allegedly arranged shelter and provided logistical support to Savad at Chakkad and Mattannur in Kannur since 2020.
On April 30, the court heard the counsel for the accused and the NIA prosecutor on framing charges against the duo.
"On going through the documents and evidence in the case and on hearing the counsel for the accused and the prosecutor, I am of the opinion that there are grounds for presuming that the first accused has committed offences punishable under provisions of the IPC, the Explosive Substances Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and that the second accused has committed offences punishable under the IPC and the UAPA, and there are materials for framing charges under these provisions against the accused," the court said.
The court directed that Savad be produced and Shafeer, who is on bail, appear before it on May 15 for recording their pleas as part of the charge-framing process.
After framing the charges, the court will schedule the trial in the case.
