Public Sector Banks Write Off Rs 42,000 Crore In Loans In First Half Of Current Fiscal

Public sector banks have written off loans worth Rs 42,000 crore in the first six months of the current fiscal, Parliament was informed on Monday. State Bank of India wrote off loans worth Rs 8,312 crore, Punjab National Bank (Rs 8,061 crore), Union Bank of India (Rs 6,344 crore) and Bank of Baroda (Rs 5,925 crore) during the April-September period.

"Such write-off does not result in waiver of liabilities of borrowers and therefore, it does not benefit the borrower. The borrowers continue to be liable for repayment and banks continue to pursue recovery actions initiated in these accounts through various recovery mechanisms available to them," Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said.

The loans written off by public sector banks during April-September of the current fiscal stood at Rs 42,035 crore, while recovery of Rs 37,253 crore was made.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Chaudhary said in 2023-24 public sector banks wrote off loans worth Rs 1.14 lakh crore, down from Rs 1.18 lakh crore in the year-ago period.