Finance Ministry expects NPA recovery of Rs 1.80 lakh crore in FY19

So far, banks have recovered Rs 1 lakh crore under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

​New Delhi: With two major cases at the final stage of resolution, the Finance Ministry expects bad loan recoveries to touch Rs 1.80 lakh crore during the current fiscal.

So far, banks have recovered Rs 1 lakh crore under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The recovery is expected to touch Rs 1.80 lakh crore by March 2019 with some of the resolutions at the final stage, Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar said.

Lenders are expecting to recover almost Rs 52,000 crore loan in case of Essar Steel while Rs 18,000 crore from Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd.

Besides, the NCLT is expected to finalise corporate insolvency resolution process of several stressed assets including Videocon Group, Monnet Ispat, Amtek Auto and Ruchi Soya.

According to estimates, the IBC has helped address stressed assets worth approximately Rs 3 lakh crore -- directly or indirectly -- since the new law came into force in December 2016.

In 2018, insolvency proceedings against some companies including Bhushan Steel, ElectroSteel Steel, Binani Cement were almost completed and the new management from their successful bidders -- Tata Steel, Vedanta group and Adity Birla-led UltraTech, respectively -- have taken over the management control of the stressed assets.

When asked about his outlook for public sector banks in the current January-March quarter, Kumar said it is very positive.

Banks have posted a combined profit in the last quarter, he said, adding, provisioning by and large is over and resolution in the current quarter would add recoveries.

In June 2017, RBI's internal advisory committee (IAC) identified 12 accounts, each having more than Rs 5,000 crore of outstanding loans and accounting for 25 per cent of total non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks.

Following the RBI's advisory, banks referred Bhushan Steel Ltd, Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd, Essar Steel Ltd, Jaypee Infratech Ltd, Lanco Infratech Ltd, Monnet Ispat & Energy Ltd, Jyoti Structures Ltd, Electrosteel Steels Ltd, Amtek Auto Ltd, Era Infra Engineering Ltd, Alok Industries Ltd.