Banks write off NPAs worth ` 1.2tr

New Delhi, June 15: Public sector banks have written off bad loans worth a whopping ` 1.20 lakh crore, an amount that is nearly one- and- ahalf times more than their total losses posted in 2017- 18, according to official data.

This is a double whammy for the struggling PSBs as they had massive write- offs as well as huge losses in the last fiscal.

This is for the first time in a decade that banks have made huge writeoffs of bad loans along with booking of hefty losses.

Till FY17, 21 stateowned banks made combined profit while in FY18, they posted a staggering loss of ` 85,370 crore, as per the data.

During FY17, PSU banks wrote off non- performing assets ( NPAs) worth ` 81,683 crore as against combined net profit of ` 473.72 crore.

SBI alone has written off bad loans of ` 40,196 crore, nearly 25 per cent of the total write- offs during FY18. This was followed by Canara Bank (` 8,310 crore), PNB (` 7,407 crore) and Bank of Baroda (` 4,948 crore).

As per the data provided by Icra, Indian Overseas Bank has written of NPAs worth ` 10,307 crore, followed by Bank of India (` 9,093 crore), IDBI Bank (` 6,632 crore) and Allahabad Bank (` 3,648 crore). These banks along with 7 others come under Prompt Corrective Action framework of RBI.

As per the government data, banks’ write- offs stood at ` 34,409 crore in 2013- 14. The figure has jumped nearly four- fold in five years. In FY15, the banks wrote off ` 49,018 crore; ` 57,585 crore in FY16, ` 81,683 crore in FY17 and hitting a record high of ` 1.20 lakh crore ( provisional) in FY18.