SBI to sell bad loans of Rs 3,000 crore this fiscal

Country's largest lender the State Bank of India (SBI) will sell bad loans amounting to Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) in the last quarter of the ongoing fiscal, the top official of the bank said on Saturday.

"We will sell bad loans of around Rs 3,000 crore in the last quarter of the fiscal," company chairman chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said.

"We will sell the bad loans to the highest bidder among the 18 Asset Reconstruction Companies," she said while advocating for right steps to control Non-performing Assets (NPA).

"NPA koi gunah nahi hai (NPA is not any crime)... but needed to be identified...", she said, adding corrective measures would have to be initiated to control it.

Bhattacharya, the first woman chairman of the public sector bank, expressed confidence that NPA will be under control once the economic scenario start looking up.

The NPA was obvious when there was a slowdown in economy and decrease in GDP, she said, emphasising the need for reform measures to face the challenge.