Thanks to Punjab National Bank’s aggressive drive aimed at recovering Non-performing asset (NPA) that are said to have plagued it recently, the bank’s recovery of over Rs 7,700 crore in bad loans during the first quarter in the current fiscal is reported to have surpassed the total amount it recovered in the entire 2017-18 financial year.
Going by the inputs from country’s third-largest public sector lender, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) resolution process has so far greatly helped the bank, in news recently, courtesy a nearly $2 billion fraud allegedly carried out by jeweller Nirav Modi and his associates.
“In the first quarter itself, 2-3 big accounts have been resolved. As a result, the bank has got over Rs 3,000 crore only through the resolution process. Last financial year, the bank had made recovery of about Rs 5,400 crore. Against that we have done recovery of over Rs 7,700 crore in the first quarter itself,” said PNB Managing Director Sunil Mehta, while pining hope that going forward the resolution of other accounts including Essar Steel and Bhushan Power and Steel (BPSL) would also yield give good value.
During the quarter (April-June, 2018-19), PNB resolved two big accounts –Bhushan Steel and Electrosteel through the IBC process.
