Subbarao says bad bank unavoidable in present situation

Former RBI Governor D Subbarao made a strong case for setting up a bad bank saying it is “not just necessary but unavoidable” in the present circumstances when NPAS are likely to balloon and much of the resolution will have to take place outside the IBC framework.

Even the Economic Survey 2017 had proposed this idea, suggesting the creation of a bad bank called Public Sector Asset Rehabilitation Agency (PARA) to help tide over the problem of stressed assets.

“The standard advantage of a bad bank is that the entity taking a decision on the sale price is different from the entity accepting that price. Conflict of interest and corruption are avoided, and importantly, are seen to be avoided. There are some successful models of bad banks with carefully designed carrots and sticks. Danaharta of Malaysia, for example, is a good model to study in designing our own bad bank,” Subbarao said.

The former RBI Governor noted that with the economy contracting by at least five per cent this fiscal year, NPAS will

“THERE ARE SOME SUCCESSFUL MODELS OF BAD BANKS WITH CAREFULLY DESIGNED CARROTS AND STICKS. DANAHARTA OF MALAYSIA, FOR EXAMPLE, IS A GOOD MODEL TO STUDY IN DESIGNING OUR OWN BAD BANK” D SUBBARAO Former RBI Governor

balloon. Also, according to RBI'S Financial Stability Report, gross NPAS of banks may rise to 12.5 per cent by March 2021 under baseline scenario, from 8.5 per cent in March 2020.

"The bankruptcy framework is already overloaded and it simply will be unable to deal with this huge additional burden. It is important, therefore, indeed more than ever before, that much of the resolution takes place outside the IBC.”