Writing off does not mean completely waiving money due from NPAs: Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that writing off does not mean "completely waiving the amount" and banks follow up on loans to recover the outstanding dues.

"Writing off is not completely waiving the amount. As a part of the accounting process, banks make a provision for the amount, which is due from the NPA account and in that process, we call it as writing off, but the provisioning is made and the pursuing of that particular defaulter or the NPA, which owes money to the bank, is followed up," the minister said answering a query in Lok Sabha.

"That is why I may not be able to say the exact amount now, but several public sector banks have in the recent past -- I am saying over 10,000, but it is much more than that -- and I am not giving you the exact figures, have got the money back, which rightly belongs to them by claiming the assets of those defaulters," she added.

She targeted the Congress-led UPA government over the NPAs (non-performing assets) and said the BJP-led government was pursuing such cases, action is being taken on the promoters, and money is being taken from the securities and assets that they have and given back to the bank.

"This has happened under Prime Minister Modi and never before as regards NPAs.

"NPAs were left by the dozen and tonnes during the UPA rule. Money was never obtained back from these defaulters to go back to the banks. These are bitter truths," she said.

The minister said that health of public sector banks has improved under the Modi government.

"Money has come back to the public sector banks," she said.