J&K Bank writes off over ₹3,400 Cr loan in five years: Centre informs Lok Sabha

Bank battles NPAs: ₹3,956 Cr in bad loans

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited (J&K Bank) is grappling with a significant non-performing assets (NPA) burden, with gross NPAs reaching ₹3,956 crore as of March 31, 2024. Over the last five financial years, the bank has written off more than ₹3,400 crore to clean its books and streamline recovery efforts, reflecting its ongoing struggle to manage financial stress and maintain stability.
A question was raised in Lok Sabha over the total number of NPA cases registered along with the details of total amount written off by the Government during the last five years, year-wise and Bank-wise; the Bank-wise details of total NPAs or bad loans of banks as on date along with the number of cases resolved and total amount recovered during the last five years, year-wise.
Replying to the question, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the government does not write-off loans given to borrowers by banks. Banks write-off non-performing assets, including, inter-alia, those in respect of which full provisioning has been made on completion of four years, as per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines and policy approved by banks’ Boards.
Such write-off does not result in waiver of liabilities of borrowers and therefore, write-off does not benefit the borrower. The borrowers continue to be liable for repayment and banks continue to pursue recovery actions initiated in these accounts, the minister informed.
Number of cases referred to DRTs by SCBs (excluding Regional Rural Banks and Payment Banks) during the last five financial years are 33,139 in 2019-20, 28,182 in 2020-21, 30,651 in 2021-22, 40,744 in 2022-23 and 30,855 in 2023-24, the minister informed.
In response to a query in the Lok Sabha regarding non-performing assets (NPAs), the Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, highlighted that over the past five financial years, J&K Bank has written off substantial amounts to address its NPA burden—₹65 crore in 2019-20, ₹1,185 crore in 2020-21, ₹758 crore in 2021-22, ₹805 crore in 2022-23, and ₹613 crore in 2023-24. Despite these measures, the bank’s gross NPAs remained significant at ₹3,956 crore as of March 31, 2024, underlining its ongoing struggle to recover bad loans and maintain financial stability.