NPAs to rise by Rs 8k cr over Gitanjali Gems fraud

Non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans in the banking sector are set to shoot up by at least Rs 8,000 crore as advances to the scam-hit Gitanjali Gems group have turned bad during the quarter ended March 31.

Banks will have to make provisioning of Rs 8,000 crore for Gitanjali alone as there has been no servicing of the working capital loan during the fourth quarter of last fiscal, sources said.

Gitanjali, among others, is the major account which has turned bad in the fourth quarter of 2017-18.

Gross NPAs of all the banks in the country amounted to Rs 8,40,958 crore in December, led by industry loans followed by services and agriculture sectors, as per the government estimates.

Gitanjali is promoted by Mehul Choksi, uncle of billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi, who defrauded Punjab National Bank (PNB) of over Rs 13,000 crore by getting fake LoU/LoCs issued from one of the bank's branches in Mumbai.

A special CBI court in Mumbai has issued nonbailable warrants (NBWs) against Modi as well as Choksi.

A consortium of 21 banks led by Allahabad Bank had first extended working capital loan to it in 2010-11. In 2014, ICICI Bank became the lead banker as it had highest exposure of about Rs 900 crore and in line with the revised guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India.