Tough road ahead for bank loan defaulters

Adopting a strict stance, the government today conveyed that no relief would be granted to the bank loan defaulters owing Rs 1 crore and above, adding that all the possible efforts would be explored in order to recover the dues from such companies and individuals.

"Recovery is an on-going process. All loans will be recovered," said Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena.

As per the statistics, there were a total of 2,492 account-holders owing Rs 1 crore and above in 2010-11 and the amount to be recovered stood at Rs 25,041 crore.

Additionally, he asked the banks to monitor non-performing assets and take steps to bring them down through recovery and other channels.

"This aspect is reviewed during Annual Financial Inspections and monitored on an ongoing basis through regulatory returns submitted by banks and periodical meetings with banks," he said adding that even RBI has monitored the NPA levels in banks.