Material drop in NPAs of the banking system: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India has told the Supreme Court that its “resolute efforts have resulted in material decline in the Non Performing Assets (NPAs) of the banking system”.

The central bank said this in response to a PIL by the Centre for Public Interest Litigations (CPIL) which sought directions to prevent NPAs, bank frauds, and to prosecute wilful defaulters.

Hearing the PIL, a bench of Justice S K Kaul and A S Oka asked the CBI to inform as to what can be done to implement the January 2017 recommendations made by a committee appointed following its directions in the case.

The RBI pointed out that in an earlier affidavit dated July 17, 2017, it had said that of the 23 recommendations of the Committee, it was in principle agreeable to seven.

It further said that recourse to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016, and the amended provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, introduced through the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, “enabled the Reserve Bank to effectively introduce measures to address the resolution of stressed assets”.