In the last five fiscal years, banks have written off debts totaling around 10 lakh crore, Parliament was informed last week.In 2021–2022, the write-off amount decreased from 2,02,781 crore to 1,57,096 crore, according to a written reply given by Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat K. Karad in the Rajya Sabha.In the previous five years, Indian banks have written off loans totaling Rs 10 lakh crore, despite the Ministry of Finance and the RBI maintaining a tight eye and issuing severe risk warnings on non-performing assets and bad loans. A massive Rs 1,57,096 crore in bad loan write-offs is included in the report for 2021–2022. There were 10,306 willful defaulters overall during this time.
According to Bhagwat K Karad, bank loans of Rs 9,91,640 crore were written off during the course of the previous five years, from 2017–18 to 2021–22. The pattern, however, demonstrates that risk warnings have at least contributed to a decrease in the volume of subprime loans and the proportion of willful defaulters over time.
Information according to RBI
In accordance with the RBI, the CRILC data about willful defaulters is retained from 2018–19 onward, he said, adding that the total number of wilful defaulters in the previous four years was 10,306.Following the highest recorded number of 2,840 willful defaulters in 2020–21, 2,700 were reported the following year. At the end of March 2019, there were 2,207 willful defaulters, and that number increased to 2,469 in 2019–20.Gitanjali Gems Ltd is at the top of the list, followed by Era Infra Engineering, Concast Steel and Power, REI Agro Ltd, and ABG Shipyard Ltd, according to information shared by Karad on the top 25 willful defaulters at the end of March 2022.
By Subhechcha Ganguly
