Public sector banks wrote off loans worth Rs 3.66 lakh crore in three fiscal years: RTI data

Public sector banks wrote off a whopping Rs 3.66 lakh crore worth of loans in the last three financial years, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data. At the same time, these banks recovered just Rs 1.9 lakh crore during this period, the data obtained by Moneycontrol.com through an RTI application showed.

The Union ministry of finance informed the Lok Sabha on Monday that in the last five years, scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) wrote off nearly Rs 10.6 lakh crore, with nearly half these loans being given to large industries and the services sector.

“A total of Rs 2.09 lakh crore worth of loans were written off by banks in 2020-23, out of which 52.3 per cent was linked to large industries and services,” minister of state for finance Bhagwat Karad said in response to a question in the Lok Sabha.

Public sector banks have been slow in recovering bad loans despite the RBI directing them to expedite the process. In 2022-23, State Bank of India, the country’s largest bank, wrote off loans worth Rs 24,061 crore, while its recoveries were only Rs 13,024 crore. Similarly, Bank of Baroda wrote off Rs 17,998 crore while its total recovery stood at a mere Rs 6,294 crore, according to the RTI data.

Canara Bank appears to be an exception, with its total loan recovery of Rs 11,919 crore exceeding the amount of Rs 4,472 crore worth of loans that were written off in 2022-23.