50 times jump in losses by PSBs in June quarter

Mumbai: State-run banks’ losses climbed more than fifty times in the June quarter from a year ago with provisions for defaults rising unabated, but the pace of accumulation of fresh bad loans slowed as most big cases have already been referred to bankruptcy courts in the previous quarters.

Total losses of 21 public sector banks aggregated to Rs 16,600 crore, up from Rs 307 crore a year earlier, data compiled from regulatory filings show. Just seven banks reported profits last quarter, down from 12 a year ago.

Trading losses magnified the problems this quarter with bond price swings, but defaults may be peaking with a pick-up in economic activity as well as promoters absorbing better repayment practices.


“We believe that the NPAs are close to peaking and we might see the level of NPAs coming down by the end of this year,” said Karthik Srinivasan, group head, financial sector ratings at ICRA. “The RBI has set timelines that the NCLT accounts should be resolved within 6 to 9 months. Even if we account for a delay here they should reach some sort of resolution by the end of the financial year.”

“Banks under Prompt Corrective Action have not shown material improvement in operating performance, particularly on the asset quality front,” said Siddharth Purohit, banking analyst with SMC Institutional Equities.

The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) is up to more than Rs 8.5 lakh crore from Rs 7.1 lakh crore, a 19 per cent increase y-o-y. Meanwhile, total provision for NPAs was Rs 51,500 crore, a 28 per cent jump y-o-y. During the quarter-ended March 31, PSU banks had reported highest-ever losses combined loss of Rs 62,700 crore with 19 banks in the red.

While their performance this quarter seems to be a big improvement over the wash-out of the preceding quarter, the crisis is all but over, analysts say. “On the slippages side, while things are improving on a quarter-to-quarter basis, the slippages are still elevated in absolute terms,” said Alpesh Mehta, deputy head of research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services. SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar acknowledged that the pain is still not over. “In September, we intend to further improve the provision coverage ratio so that from December there would be no looking back and there will be no hangover of past credit cost,” said Kumar.