Why hasn't govt taken action against loan defaulters?

Publicly traded banks in India added Rs 1 trillion in bad loans for the quarter ending December 31, 2015.

Expressing concern over rising bad loans of public banks, noted lawyer and nominated MP K T S Tulsi on Thursday questioned the government for not taking action against wilful defaulters declared last year despite RBI norm.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Tulsi said "the non-performing assets (NPAs) ratio continues to surge. It is expected that the government will take concrete steps to contain the present situation.

"The government should apprise the House what steps it is taking against wilful defaulters and why there is no action against those defaulters, who were declared wilful defaulters last year despite clear and strict RBI guidelines?"

Publicly traded banks in India added Rs 1 trillion in bad loans for the quarter ending December 31, 2015, amounting to 29 per cent increase in the stocks of these deteriorated debts, he said.

Tulsi further said the aggregate net profit of 39 listed banks fell by 98 per cent to Rs 307 crore (Rs 3.07 billion) for the quarter ending December 2015 from Rs 16,806 crore (Rs 168.06 billion) in the year earlier.

"Such has been the surge in bad loans that it has wiped out profits of 12 out of 39 listed banks," he said.

Bank of Baroda reported a net loss of Rs 3,342 crore (Rs 33.42 billion) for the third quarter of this fiscal, highest by any bank. Indian Overseas Bank has highest NPA ratio of 12.64 per cent and UCO Bank has second highest NPA ratio of 10.98 per cent, he added.

The central bank expects the clean up, which started from December quarter, to be able to restore the health of the banks and revive lending and in turn boost economy, he added.