NPAs in MSMEs, agri sector up, say bankers
Bhartesh Singh Thakur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 12
Non-performing assets (NPAs) in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and agricultural sector have risen in the state.
As per data submitted during the State-Level Bankers’ Committee meeting here today, NPA amount under MSME advances till December 2018 was Rs 4,412 crore, which rose by 9.1 per cent to Rs 4,814 crore by December 2019.
The worst affected are micro enterprises, where NPA amount is Rs 2,041 crore belonging to 56,635 accounts. In small enterprises, it is Rs 1,573 crore for 9,335 accounts till December 2019. In medium enterprises, the amount is Rs 1,200 crore in 1,552 accounts. There are 66,522 NPA accounts in all.
“The MSMEs are affected by demonetisation and GST. There is a slowdown, which has impacted ancillary units like those in the automobile sector,” said Dr Raj Kumar Yaduvanshi, executive director, Punjab National Bank.
“The RBI has floated a scheme of restructuring loans for NPAs, which will be a breather for the industry. Banks are also encouraged, but it is done in a restrictive manner,” he said. The outstanding amount is Rs 69,896 crore against 7.47 lakh MSME accounts.
In agriculture, the NPA amount marginally increased from Rs 5,131 crore till December 2018 to Rs 5,229 crore till December 2019. The number of NPA accounts rose by 4.2 per cent from 1.68 lakh to 1.75 lakh in scheduled commercial banks.
The total outstanding amount under the agricultural sector stands at Rs 52,779 crore for 18.91 lakh accounts. If cooperative banks are added, NPA accounts rise to 1.79 lakh and NPA amount to Rs 5,402 crore till December 2019.
Zero balance Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana accounts in the state till December 2019 are 7.09 lakh, which is 9.9 per cent of the 71.96 lakh accounts.
State-Level Bankers’ Committee Secretariat chief manager Sresh Dutt Sharma said opening of zero balance accounts was the first stage. “Making accounts operative by inculcating saving habits will come later,” he said.
Mewat (16%), Kurukshetra (12%) and Jhajjar (11%) are the bottom three districts in the percentage of zero balance accounts under the scheme.
No to Census, NPR duty
It has been decided that bank staff will not be deployed for Census and NPR duties. Banks are facing staff shortage and such duties will affect customer service, besides making it difficult to implement government schemes
