Bank's NPA May rise to 5.7% by March 16: ICRA

Global rating agency ICRA has warned that gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks in the next financial year may jump to 5.1-5.7 per cent of advances by March 2016 as against 4.5 per cent in December 2014, citing new regulatory norms for restructured loans, Business Standard reported.

With the end of the regulatory forbearance regime for restructured loans in March 2015, loans restructured from April will be treated as NPAs with a higher provision bill for them, BS reported the agency as saying.

However, the rating firm maintained that total stressed advances (gross NPAs plus standard restructured advances) could moderate in FY16 as pickup in economic activity and RBI's norms for flexible structuring of loans may help in reducing the flow of impaired assets, as per media report.