India's bad-loan ratio now worst among top 10 economies

By Saloni Shukla and Adrian Leung

India holds the dubious distinction of having the worst non-performing loan ratio among the world’s major economies, having surpassed Italy. The Reserve Bank of India said in December that the ratio for banks fell for the first time since 2015, though it’s still “ high for comfort.” A $190 billion pile of soured and stressed debt has cast the future of some lenders in doubt and curbed investments. Italy succeeded in quickly reducing its bad-loan ratio, with non-performing loans falling to about 200 billion euros ($227 billion) last year from their peak of over 360 million euros in 2016.