NPA situation may worsen, cautions RBI

Gross bad loans as percentage of total advances of banks are likely to rise from 11.6 per cent in March 2018 to 12.2 per cent by the end of the current fiscal, the RBI said on Tuesday.

The RBI, in its Financial Stability Report (FSR), stated that stress in the banking sector continues as gross non-performing advances (GNPA) ratio continues to rise.

“Macro-stress tests indicate that under the baseline scenario of current macroeconomic outlook, SCBs’ (scheduled commercial banks) GNPA ratio may rise from 11.6 per cent in March 2018 to 12.2 per cent by March 2019,” it said.

Pointing to the 11 state-owned banks under prompt corrective action framework (PCA), RBI said they may experience worsening of their GNPA ratio from 21 per cent in March 2018 to 22.3 per cent by this fiscal-end.

Of the 11 banks, six are likely to experience capital shortfall relative to the required minimum CRAR (Risk-weighted Assets Ratio) of 9 per cent.

IDBI Bank, UCO Bank, Central Bank of India, Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Dena Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Bank of Maharashtra, United Bank of India, Corporation Bank and Allahabad Bank are the 11 banks under PCA framework or RBI watchlist of high bad loans.

Profitability of all commercial banks fell, partly reflecting increased provisioning, according to the report. It, however, said credit growth rose during 2017-18 despite sluggish deposit growth.

(With PTI inputs)