The Finance Ministry has told in the Lok Sabha that the top 50 willful defaulters have repaid Rs 92,570 crore to the banks. In the list of these defaulters, Gitanjali Ratna, a firm of fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi, is on top, owing Rs 7,848 crore to banks.
According to the Finance Ministry, banks have put a total loan of Rs 10.1 lakh crore in bad accounts. That is, the hope of getting back this money is very less. SBI has put the maximum loan of Rs 2 lakh crore in bad account. Willful defaulters are those people who deliberately do not return the money to the banks after taking the loan.
Recover the debt!
In his reply in the lower house of Parliament, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad said that steps are being taken to recover the loan. These defaulters do not get new loans and are not allowed to set up new ventures for 5 years as per RBI rules. The government has also brought a law to confiscate the assets of fugitive economic offenders who fled India like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya.
Recovery of Rs 4.8 lakh crore in 5 years
Separately, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that in the last 5 financial years, banks have written off loans worth Rs 10.1 lakh crore. He said that public sector banks have recovered Rs 4.8 lakh crore in the last 5 years. It also includes 1.03 lakh crore rupees from the loan put in the bad account.
