Finance Minister Jaitley vows to find resources to help NPA-laden banks
Jaitley said stressed bank accounts are a core area of concern for the government.
Mumbai: With bad loans continuing to saddle the banking sector, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said India will provide resources for stressed banks to help them fund economic growth.
Inaugurating the annual general meeting of the Indian Banks’ Association, the Finance Minister said “Stressed assets are a core area of concern and the government will expeditiously work with banking system to resolve the issue”.
Jaitley’s statement comes days after data recorded a steep fall in advance tax payouts by bad loan-saddled public sector banks has, which in turn, led to a muted 10.6 per cent growth in overall revenue mop-up from large corporates in the September quarter.
Moreover, bad loans have dented the ability of Indian banks to offer credit. Meanwhile, the economy has slowed down to a GDP growth of 5.7 per cent, the lowest in three years.
“A primary cause for the recent slowdown in our growth is the stress on the banking sector’s balance-sheet, especially of public sector banks," RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya said recently.