Chidambaram reviews performance of PSU insurance firms

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister P Chidamabram today reviewed the annual performance of state-owned insurance companies at a meeting with heads of life as well as non-life insurance firms here.

"Broadly, progress was discussed...the issues still pending, to be addressed. So basically their performance was reviewed," Financial Services Secretary G S Sandhu said after the meeting.

Insurance companies made presentations to the Finance Minister and informed him about the progress made in the 2013-14 fiscal.

IRDA Chairman T S Vijayan and several senior officials of the ministry also attended the review meeting.

Chidambaram is scheduled to meet chiefs of public sector banks tomorrow to impress upon them the need to focus on the recovery of bad loans.

PSU banks have recovered Rs 18,933 crore of bad loans during the nine months till December 2013.

The non-performing assets (NPA), or bad loans, of the public sector banks have seen an uptrend since financial meltdown in 2008. During the 2013-14 fiscal, most of the public sector banks have reported rise in their NPA quarter after quarter.

The gross NPA of public sector banks rose to Rs 2.03 lakh crore at the end of September, from Rs 1.55 lakh crore on March 31, 2013.

The gross NPA of banks, including those in the private sector, rose by 28.5 per cent from Rs 1.83 lakh crore in March last year, to Rs 2.36 lakh crore in September.