As of March 31, 2023, 2,623 borrowers in India have been designated as willful defaulters, owing banks Rs 1,96,049 crore, Bhagwat Karad, Minister of State in the Finance Ministry, informed the Lok Sabha on Monday.
According to Karad, Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) and All India Financial Institutions (AIFIs) submit to the Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) credit information for all borrowers with aggregate exposure of Rs 5 crore or more.
“As reported in CRILC database, as of 31.3.2023, a total of 2,623 unique borrowers were classified as wilful defaulters, with aggregate outstanding of Rs 1,96,049 crore, by SCBs,” the official added.
Karad further stated that banks take action against willful defaulters using the different recovery options available. Filing a case in civil courts or debt collection tribunals is one of them. They may also file cases with the National Company Law Tribunal under the 2016 Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
“Further, as per the Reserve Bank of India’s Framework for Compromise Settlements and Technical Write-offs dated 8.6.2023, compromise settlements are undertaken by lenders in respect of wilful defaulters without prejudice to the criminal proceedings underway against such debtors,” he said.
Over Rs 10 trillion in loans have been written off in the previous five years. In answer to another question, Karad reminded the Lok Sabha that in the previous five years, the Centre had wiped off loans totaling more than Rs 10 trillion.
Only Rs 5.5 trillion of the total of Rs 10.57 trillion goes to huge firms.
According to Karad, using RBI statistics, Indian banks collected a total of Rs 5,309.80 crore in punitive penalties, including penalty costs for late loan payments, during 2022-23.
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