Banks file over 2,800 suits to recover Rs. 1 lakh crore in a year

Banks have filed suits against over 2,800 loan defaulters for recovery of around Rs 1,09,000 crore during the 12-month period ended September 2018.

With this, total suit-filed accounts of banks have gone up to 21,163 for the recovery of Rs 3,97,488 crore as of September 2018 as against 2,816 accounts to recover Rs 2,88,023 crore as of September 2017, according to data available from Transunion Cibil, a credit information company. However, this works out to just 38% of the total non-performing assets (NPAs) in the banking system. Banks had filed 15,219 suits to recover Rs 2,18,220 crore as of September 2016 and 11,290 accounts for Rs 1,62,425 crore as of September 2015.

CIBIL publishes details of suit-filed accounts which owe more than Rs 1 crore to banks. The figure would increase sharply if defaults below Rs 1 crore are also taken into account. However, neither the RBI nor credit information companies disclose details of the full list of defaulters — including non-performing assets which are yet to be taken to the courts by banks — which include the who’s who of the corporate sector.

State Bank of India has filed suits against 3,498 borrower accounts to recover Rs 79,923 crore as of September 2018. Punjab National Bank filed 1,762 suits for the recovery of Rs 51,956 crore, Bank of India moved against 891 accounts to recover Rs 14,157 crore and Corporation Bank has suits against 744 borrowers for recovery of Rs 19,859 crore, according to the Cibil data. Public sectors banks, including SBI, have slapped suits against 16,824 borrower accounts for recovery of Rs 3,09,217 crore.