PNB to sell NPAs worth over Rs 1,000 cr, six accounts put on block

New Delhi: State-owned Punjab National Bank has put on sale six non-performing loans amounting to over Rs 1,000 crore, including two accounts of Vandana Vidyut and Visa Steel.

Asset reconstruction companies (ARCs), non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), other banks and financial institutions can submit binding bids till June 26. The bids will be opened on the following day.

"We intend to place the (six accounts) for sale to ARCs/NBFCs/Other Banks/FIs etc," said a notice put up by PNB.

The reserve price for the six non performing assets (NPAs) has been fixed at Rs 342 crore.

Bhopal-based Vandana Vidyut Steel owes Rs 454.02 crore, while Kolkata located Visa Steel has an outstanding balance of Rs 443.76 crore.

The rest four NPAs - Temptation Foods, Helios Photovoltaic, Cabcom Cables, and Zoom Vallabh Steel - are Delhi based.

The sale process is to be handled by the Stressed Assets Targeted Resolution Action (SASTRA) Division of the bank. The submission of financial bids will be only through e-auction method, which will take place on the portal of the bank, it said.

Punjab National Bank (PNB), which was hit by a massive Rs 14,000-crore scam allegedly perpetrated by jeweller duo Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, has enhanced its recovery mechanism by forming the Stressed Asset Management Vertical (SAMV) and SASTRA.

It is also looking to raise Rs 10,000 crore in 2019-20 from sale of non-core assets, rights issue and expected write-backs from two large accounts undergoing insolvency proceedings.

For the full fiscal 2018-19, the bank's consolidated net loss was at Rs 9,570.11 crore, as against a loss of Rs 12,113.36 crore during 2017-18.

Its income during the fiscal ended March 2019 rose to Rs 59,514.53 crore compared to Rs 57,608.19 crore in preceding year.

Gross NPAs of the bank stood at Rs 78,472.70 crore at the end of the financial year 2018-19, lower than Rs 86,620.05 crore reported in 2017-18. Net NPAs were valued at Rs 30,037.66 crore as against Rs 48,684.29 crore.

The Delhi-headquartered bank had recovered Rs 20,000 crore in 2018-19 as against Rs 9,666 crore in the previous fiscal.