India needs 4-5 SBI-size banks to meet growing needs of economy: Sitharaman

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India needs at least four or five different State Bank of India (SBI) size banks to meet the growing needs of the economy, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. She also urged Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) to develop a digitised district-wise map of bank branches so that locations with no banking presence are identified to ensure that they either have a physical or digital footprint.

“One of the driving forces for the amalgamation (of banks) was that we need to scale up banking to meet the new changing and growing requirements of the economy. But that was thought of even before the pandemic. Now all the more reason why we would need four or five SBIs in the country,” Sitharaman said at the 74th AGM of the Indian Banks’ Association.

SBI is India’s largest bank with total deposits of ₹37.20 lakh crore and gross advances of ₹25.23 lakh crore as at June-end 2021.

“Amalgamation is a very important exercise because the way in which the economy is shifting to a different plane altogether, the way in which the economy, together with the industry, is also looking at various ways of adapting to a post-pandemic era, there are ever so many challenges. And, in fact, even before the pandemic, one of the driving forces for the amalgamation was that India needs a lot more banks, a lot more big banks,” she said.

Financial inclusion

On the need to expand banking to achieve financial inclusion, Sitharaman said, “Even today, there are very many districts in which even big panchayats don’t have a physical bank. I am not saying that everywhere you need to have physical, brick-and-mortar banks. Digitisation has saved a lot of cost for you even without compromising on the service you provide. But even then there are such parts of this country which cannot but have at least one brick and mortar [bank],” Sitharaman said.

The minister observed that almost two-thirds of the panchayats have already been given optical fibre connections under the government’s optical fibre connectivity programme.

However, there are heavy economic activity dominant areas in which not even one bank prevails. The minister asked the bankers to closely look at the centres of economic activities, even if they are completely in rural areas.

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How did public sector banks become profitable in FY21?, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week, while making the announcement of the National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd, claimed that the performance of public sector banks has improved, with just two public sector banks reporting losses.

“In 2018, just two out of 21 public sector banks were profitable. But in 2021, only two banks reported losses for the full year,” she had said.

Also read: Finance Minister Sitharaman announces bad bank, Cabinet approves backing of up to Rs 30,600 crore

From 2015, when the Reserve Bank of India conducted an Asset Quality Review (AQR), public sector banks started to make a lot of provisions in their loans. Non performing assets in the banking sector jumped 80% in FY16, according to RBI data, quoted in the July 2015 AQR.

The AQR created havoc on banks’ profitability, especially affecting state-owned banks because majority of their loans were provided to corporates.

Banks had been directed to keep increasing provisioning of accounts that were restructured from 5% to 15%, and accounts that were classified as sub-standard (first category of NPA), would slip into doubtful category if it stayed sub-standard for 12 months, attracting 40% provisioning. And if the loan is not serviced at all, the bank would have to treat it as a loss account with 100% provisioning.

Major PSBs reported record losses for the first time in the fourth quarter of FY16, like Bank of Baroda with Rs 3,230 crore and Punjab National Bank with Rs 5,367 crore.

Banks entered an NPA cycle, till 2021. The government came out with two major relief measures – recapitalisation, starting 2017, and merger of smaller public sector banks with large anchor banks.

Also read: Several NPAs transferred to bad bank may head to liquidation, cost govt a bomb

“Mergers of the banks is the step in the right direction as fewer banks with larger balance sheets would be able to compete better in the market,” said Yuvraj Choudhary, research analyst at Anand Rathi Financial Services.

In FY18, there were a total of 21 public sector banks, and as Sitharaman said, only two public sector banks reported profits – Indian Bank and Vijaya Bank.

“PSBs were reeling under corporate asset quality burden for long, more so after RBI’s AQR exercise. This was aggravated by forced mergers, which led to losses due to accelerated recognition and provisioning. Growth too decelerated as banks were busy with merger and had capital constraints,” an analyst with Emkay Global Financial Services said.

PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS FY18 STANDALONE NET PROFIT/LOSS (in Rs)
State Bank of India (-) 6,547 crore
Punjab National Bank (-) 12,283 crore
Bank of Baroda (-) 2,432 crore
Bank of India (-) 6.044 crore
Central Bank of India (-) 5,105 crore
Canara Bank (-) 4,222 crore
Union Bank of India (-) 5,247 crore
Indian Overseas Bank (-) 6,300 crore
Punjab & Sind Bank (-) 744 crore
Indian Bank 1,259 crore
UCO Bank (-) 4,436 crore
Bank of Maharashtra (-) 1,146 crore
Oriental Bank of Commerce (-) 5,872 crore
United Bank of India (-) 1,455 crore
Andhra Bank (-) 3,413 crore
Allahabad Bank (-) 4,674 crore
Corporation Bank (-) 4,054 crore
Syndicate Bank (-) 3,223 crore
IDBI Bank (-) 8,238 crore
Dena Bank (-) 1,923 crore
Vijaya Bank 727 crore

Starting FY21, only 12 state-owned banks have remained. Six weaker PSBs had been merged with four anchor banks – Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank were merged with Union Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India with Punjab National Bank, Syndicate Bank with Canara Bank, and Allahabad Bank with Indian Bank.

In 2019, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank were merged with Bank of Baroda, and IDBI Bank was recategorised as a private bank, with Life Insurance Corporation of India buying 51% stake. So far, IDBI Bank is the only PSB that has been privatised.

Mergers of public sector banks aided in reducing operation costs for the banks, but banks are not in the position to absorb any weak banks, according to analysts. “This is true even for SBI. Privatization of weak banks is the best way to weed them out,” the analyst at Emkay Global said.

Though mergers had caused a bit of a correction in the PSBs’ profitability earlier, mergers did not have any role to play in their profitability in FY21, analysts said.

“PSBs have turned profitable since past few quarters mainly due to healthy treasury gains and some lumpy corporate resolutions, (for eg. Bhushan Power). Impact of COVID-19 on corporate portfolio was relatively moderate, leading to further moderation in NPAs and lower incremental provisioning, which supported profitability,” the analyst at Emkay Global said.

Of the 12 banks, only two reported losses in FY21 – Punjab & Sind Bank and Central Bank of India.

PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS FY21 STANDALONE NET PROFIT/LOSS (in Rs)
State Bank of India 20,410 crore
Punjab National Bank 2,022 crore
Bank of Baroda 829 crore
Bank of India 2,160 crore
Central Bank of India (-)888 crore
Canara Bank 2,558 crore
Union Bank of India 2,905 crore
Indian Overseas Bank 831 crore
Punjab & Sind Bank (-)2,732 crore
Indian Bank 3,004 crore
UCO Bank 167 crore
Bank of Maharashtra 550 crore

Sitharaman, at the press conference last week, also said that banks have recovered Rs 3.1 lakh crore since March 2018.

This was possible because sizeable recovery from lumpy corporate NPAs, by way of cash and write-offs, was expected. Some resolutions including Essar, Bhushan, were major contributors to these recovery numbers, analysts said.

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Several NPAs transferred to bad bank may head to liquidation, cost govt a bomb, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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The government has announced the setting up of National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd with much fanfare and committed over Rs 30,000 crore guarantee for bad assets acquired by it, but it may be used up soon, going by the initial assets going by the list of assets proposed to be transferred to the bad bank.

Banks have identified Rs 82,496 crores worth of bad loans that could be transferred to the NARCL, which includes the following companies.

COMPANIES TOTAL BAD LOANS
Videocon Rs 22,532 crore
Reliance Naval & Engineering Rs 8,934 crore
Amtex Auto Rs 9,014 crore
Jaypee Infratech Rs 7, 950 crore
Castex Technologies Rs 6,337 crore
GTL Ltd Rs 4,866 crore
Visa Steel Rs 3,394 crore
Wind World India Ltd Rs 3,161 crore
Lavasa Corporation Rs 1,424 crore
Consolidated Construction Consortium Ltd Rs 1,353 crore

Also read: NARCL will empower lenders, but recovery from 26 accounts is not easy, industry says
Several assets such as Videocon have seen realisable value close to liquidation value in National Company Law Tribunal proceedings. Many big-ticket resolutions at Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code have seen haircuts over 90%. With most of the NPAs proposed to be transferred to the bad bank being old legacy ones, there has been an erosion in value, making them more likely to head to liquidation.

Lavasa Corporation has got bids worth Rs 700 crore for loan claims of over Rs 8,000 crore at NCLT.

Several NPAs transferred to bad bank may head to liquidation, cost govt a bomb

Close to liquidation

Though banks have made 100% provision for these assets, even Rajkiran Rai, chairman of Indian Banks Association, and MD & CEO of Union Bank of India does not expect more than 20-25 per cent recovery from these legacy accounts, he told a television channel.

The State Bank of India has identified NPAs with Rs 17,000-18,000 crore outstanding to be transferred to the NARCL, while Punjab National Bank has identified Rs 8,000 crore worth of NPAs, Union Bank of India Rs 7,800 crore of NPAs to be transferred to the National ARC. The Bank of India has identified about Rs 5,500 crores of assets for transfer while Indian Bank about Rs 1,900 crore.

“I am not hopeful. Because these are bad assets. Finally, all these will go under liquidation,” Siby Antony, chairman of the ARC Association of India.

The bad bank

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a Rs 30,600 crore government guarantee for the National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL) for acquiring stressed loan assets, paving the way for operationalisation of the bad bank.

Also read: Finance Minister Sitharaman announces bad bank, Cabinet approves backing of up to Rs 30,600 crore

The finance minister in Budget 2021-22 announced the setting up of a bad bank as part of the resolution of bad loans worth about Rs 2 lakh crore.

The bad bank or NARCL will pay up to 15 per cent of the agreed value for the loans in cash and the remaining 85 per cent would be government-guaranteed security receipts (SRs). The government guarantee would be invoked if there is a loss against the threshold value.

Also read: What are NARCL and IDRCL? How do they work and what is the plan?

This sovereign guarantee would be for a period of five years and NARCL would have to pay a fee for this.

“The SRs are getting the backstop through government funding only in as much as to pay the gap between the realised value (resolution/liquidation) and the face value of SRs and this will hold good for five years,” Sitharaman said.

The fee for the guarantee would be initially 0.25 per cent, which would progressively increase to 0.5 per cent in case of delay in resolution of bad loans.

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Know how banks, financials performed this week, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Domestic benchmark indices Sensex and the Nifty snapped their 3-day winning run yesterday, of which state-owned banks were among the major losers. The market has been showing signs of correction, with investors resorting to profit booking after a stellar record-setting spree.

Among sectors, public sector banks lost the most, while private banks gained the most today.

On Friday, banking and financial services stocks were in focus after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the much-awaited bad bank.The Nifty Bank scaled the crucial 38,000-level mark for the first time ever, and a fresh lifetime high of 38,112.75.

The BSE Sensex has gained around 9% over the last month. Stock-specific moves, weak cues from Asian markets, inflation data, revival of economic activity in Europe, improving economic data and healthy pick up in India’s daily inoculations were considered key driving factors this week.

Monday Closing bell: Indices end flat on negative bias, Nifty Bank falls

Domestic equity indices ended in the red on Monday, with BSE Sensex down 0.2% at 58,177 points and Nifty 50 down 0.08% at 17,355. However, mid and smallcap stocks outperformed other sectors, with BSE Midcap index closing 0.32% higher and the smallcap index ending with a gain of 0.80%.

Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services closed 0.58% and 0.19% lower, respectively. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI Life Insurance were top laggards among Sensex stocks, while Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Chola Invest and Power Finance were top gainers.

Tuesday Closing bell: Indices end with mild gains, broader markets outperform

The BSE Sensex closed at a high of 58,247 points, up 69 points, and the Nifty 50 rose 25 points to end at 17,380, a record closing high for the benchmark. Broader markets outperformed the benchmarks as both mid and small-caps were up 1% each.

Bank Nifty opened higher and made an intraday high of 36840 but failed to sustain higher levels. It closed with a gain of 0.38%, and Nifty Financial Services closed at 18,103, down 0.13%.

Weekly Market Wrap Up: Know how banks, financials performed this week

Wednesday Closing bell : Sensex, Nifty end at record closing highs

Headline indices Sensex and Nifty 50 ended at record closing highs, with both indices up nearly 1% each. The Sensex closed at 58,723 points, up 0.82%, while Nifty closed the day at 17,519, up 0.80%. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices closed 0.65% and 0.86% higher, respectively.

Nifty Bank closed 0.65% higher at 36,852, while Nifty Financial Services ended at 18,158, up 0.30%. SBI, IndusInd Bank and HDFC were among the top gainers, while Axis Bank and HDFC Bank were among the top laggards.

PSU bank index jumped 2.83% with J&K Bank, Bank of Baroda, IOB, Indian Bank gaining 2.7% each.

Thursday Closing bell: Market closes at record highs again; banks, financials outperform ahead of FM announcement

Domestic benchmark indices ended at record closing highs on Thursday. Banks and financials outperformed all the sectors, ahead of Financial Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s bad bank announcement.

BSE Sensex jumped 418 points to end above 59,100 mark for the first time at 59,141, while the Nifty 50 index ended at 17,629.50, rising 0.63%. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices also hit their fresh record highs intraday, and closed 0.48% and 0.08% higher, respectively.

Among sectors, the Nifty PSU Bank index jumped 5.43%, while the Nifty Private Bank index clocked a gain of 2.67% . The Nifty Bank index rose 2.22%, while Nifty Financial Services gained 1.09%. Induslnd Bank emerged as the top gainer jumping 7% followed by SBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank.

Friday Closing Bell: Sensex and the Nifty snapped 3-day winning streak, PSU banks gain

Having scaled fresh highs in early deals, benchmark indices lost steam as investors were seen booking profits after the three-day winning streak. Losses were led by PSU banks, auto, pharma stocks. BSE Sensex ended 0.21% lower at 59,016, while the Nifty 50 index fell 0.25% to settle at 17,585. BSE Midcap index fell 1.14% and the BSE Smallcap index closed 1.06% lower.

Bank Nifty ended at 37,811, up 0.38%, while Nifty Financial Services rose 0.65% ending at 18,476. Nifty PSU Bank index fell more than 3%, with Bank of Baroda losing 4.37%, by IOB, UCO Bank and Bank of India.

Key Industry takeaways

Retail inflation softens to 4-month low in August at 5.3%

Weekly Market Wrap Up: Know how banks, financials performed this week
Retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (Combined) eased to a four-month low of 5.3% in August due to moderation in food prices along with a high base effect, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on 13 September showed.

The August inflation print is within the targeted range of 2±4 per cent of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) though this is the seventh consecutive month of an inflation print higher than 5 per cent and 23rd consecutive month of it being above the RBI’s target of 4%.

SREI’s Rs 35,000-crore loan may be classified as NPA

Banks may classify Rs 35,000 crore loan given to SREI group as Non Performing Asset (NPA) by the end of this quarter after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) set aside the previous order restraining banks from such classification.

According to analysts’ estimates, Indian Bank and Canara Bank have exposures of Rs 2,000 crore and Rs 1,200 crore, respectively, to Srei group, while ICICI Bank and Axis Bank have Rs 800 crore each.

Sebi proposes to tighten timeline for filing settlement applications

The Securities and Exchange Board of India on Tuesday proposed to tighten the timeline of settlement mechanism, whereby it suggested fixing the total timeframe for filing the application at 60 days after receipt of the notice to show cause.

The total timeframe for filing the application for settlement may be fixed at 60 days of the date of receipt of the show-cause notice or the supplementary notice, whichever is later, Sebi said in a consultation paper.

Finance Minister Sitharaman announces bad bank

Weekly Market Wrap Up: Know how banks, financials performed this week
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the much-awaited bad bank on Thursday, and said that the Union Cabinet approved on Wednesday the sovereign backing of up to Rs 30,600 crore for the securities receipts.

The planned National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL) will issue securities receipts to banks as it takes on non-performing assets from their books. These securities receipts will be valid for five years.

Mahindra Finance enters vehicle leasing and subscription business

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd announced on Thursday, its entry into vehicle leasing and subscription business, under the brand name ‘Quiklyz’.

Under this model, consumers can pay a monthly fee to access a vehicle of their choice across all car brands, at a lower price as against regular ownership.

IDFC Board approves initiating steps to divest mutual fund business:

Weekly Market Wrap Up: Know how banks, financials performed this week
The board of directors of IDFC Ltd and IDFC Financial Holding Co Ltd at their meetings held on Friday have considered and approved to initiate steps to divest its mutual fund business subject to requisite regulatory approvals, as applicable.

The boards have authorised respective strategy and investment committees to take necessary steps, including appointment of investment banker, for the same.



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Bad Bank to solve Rs 2 lakh crore bad loans, take NPAs off banks’ books; here’s how it will work

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced that the Union government will guarantee Rs 30,600 worth of security receipts issued by the National Asset Reconstruction Company.

The Bad Bank is finally here, after a decade of discourse. It aims to help clean up banks’ books by taking over Rs 2 lakh crore bad loans. If it works as intended, Bad Bank may help cut system-wide bank NPAs (non-performing assets) by over 1%, and help recover some of bad debts too, analysts say. The National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL), as it is officially named, will acquire banks’ bad debt to resolve or liquidate. It will buy these stressed assets for a mix of cash, and government-guaranteed security receipts.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced that the Union government will guarantee Rs 30,600 worth of security receipts issued by the National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL). “NARCL will acquire stressed assets through 15% cash payment to banks based on valuation and the rest 85% will be given as security receipts,” Nirmala Sitharaman said. The government-backed security receipts can only be invoked on resolution or liquidation.

What is NARCL? Why is it needed?

The National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL) was proposed by the Finance Minister in her Union Budget speech. NARCL, popularly known as Bad Bank, will function as an asset reconstruction company set up by banks to resolve stressed assets for smoother functioning. Public sector banks will have 51% ownership in NARCL. The bad bank intends to resolve stressed loan assets above Rs 500 crore each.

How the Bad Bank will work

Bad loan transfer: NARCL will take over bad loans worth Rs 2 lakh crore from banks, of which Rs 90,000 crore will be taken over in the first phase. The Ministry of Finance said that NARCL will acquire bad loans from banks for a mutually agreed-upon value (understandably, a net value after a haircut). NARCL will pay 15% of the agreed net value of the bad debt upfront in cash and the remaining 85% in form of security receipts. The banks would use this 15% cash upfront to reverse the debt write down. As for the security receipts for the remaining 85%, the bank would redeem those when the bad bank resolves or liquidates the bad debt; or, the bank may also trade these securities for cash.

Provision write-back: “These loans are fully provided in the books of the bank. The upfront cash received, 15% of the written-down value, would be reversed while the provisions for the balance (value of security receipts) are unlikely to be reversed even if it is fully provided,” analysts at Kotak Securities wrote in a note. “The larger release of provisions, if any, would be made as and when the cash is received on sale of these receipts or redemption of security receipts. The government guarantee on SRs can enable trading of these securities,” Kotak Securities added.

Government guarantee: The security receipts issued by NARCL are backed by the Union government guarantee. The government guarantee will cover any shortfall between the face value of the receipts and the actual realisation value of the bad loan.

Resolution is key

“How efficiently the professionals are resolving the stressed assets is to be monitored. One can argue that bad bank is likely to become a warehouse for stressed loans without expected recovery as it will be difficult to find buyers for legacy assets,” ICICI Securities said in a note. The Resolution of the proposed Rs 2 lakh crore of legacy stressed assets will lower GNPLs (gross non performing loans) by more than 2%, the note said. The estimated realisable value of 18% will lead to provisioning write-back of Rs 36,000 crore. “Through successful execution of phase-1, one can expect near term NPA reduction of >1% and NPA recoveries equivalent to 10bps of system credit,” ICICI Securities said.

Why is government guarantee needed?

The government said that resolution mechanisms of dealing with a backlog of NPAs typically require a backstop from the Government. “This imparts credibility and provides for contingency buffers. Hence, a Government Guarantee of up to Rs 30,600 crore will back Security Receipts (SRs) issued by NARCL. The guarantee will be valid for 5 years. The condition precedent for invocation of guarantee would be resolution or liquidation,” the finance ministry said.

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NARCL will empower lenders, but recovery from 26 accounts is not easy, industry says, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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The National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL) will kill all communication gaps that bank consortiums face, and will speed up the process. But chances are high that the NARCL will face a tough time recovering from the 26 accounts that have been identified.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said that the government has allocated more than Rs. 30,600 crore to the NARCL. The government will transfer the funds to the bad bank, according to their calendar. The Cabinet has approved to set up the NARCL, backed by the government securities, she added.

Read: Finance Minister Sitharaman announces bad bank, Cabinet approves backing of up to Rs 30,600 crore on securities receipts

NARCL – sole decision maker

Industry veterans believe that NARCL will strengthen the recovery process.

“The first and foremost advantage is that the NARCL will provide consolidation of the debt. The debt, which is spread out in 10-20 different entities of the consortium or the multiple banking arrangement, will be consolidated into one entity, providing ease of resolution. In a multiple banking arrangement, there is always a difference of opinion, which makes it difficult to reach a resolution plan,” said Sunil Mehta, chief executive officer at Indian Banks’ Association.

The biggest benefit banks will have is that they will get 15% funds upfront from the NARCL as soon as they transfer the assets. In the current scenario, it takes months for bankers to get their first cheque after a rigorous process either at the National Company Law Tribunal or at Debt Recovery Tribunals.

Read: What are NARCL and IDRCL? How do they work and what is the plan?

“The intention and the idea behind bad banks is that all the bad loans of the banks are concentrated at one place so there will be one common decision making entity. This will make the execution of asset resolution far faster,” said Jyoti Prakash Gadia, managing director at Resurgent India.

NARCL will empower lenders, but recovery from 26 accounts is not easy, industry says
Operations and recovery

Public sector banks will hold 51% stake in the NARCL, while debt management and other financial institutions will hold 49%. NARCL will be managed by professionals, and non performing asset accounts, which are larger than Rs. 500 crore, will be transferred to it. Currently, banks have identified 26 accounts, worth around Rs. 90,000 crore, which the NARCL will take over from them.

The hope is that the government-backed bad bank will bring in the right value for the banks. Because in the current situation, liquidation is much higher compared with resolution, and lenders have taken more than 90% haircuts in many accounts, including Videocon Industries, Siva Industries etc.

But while NARCL will reduce the gaps and speed up the recovery, experts have their own doubts on its recovery ratio, considering the quality of 26 assets, which will be transferred.

“I am not sure if NARCL will be able to fully recover all the accounts mentioned in the list. However, it is still better than individual recovery,” said Gadia.

Recovery has always been a challenge for lenders. RBI Governor Shakikanta Das had recently highlighted that the total recovery from Lokadalat is 5%, from DRT is 6% and from SARFAESI is 20%. The highest recovery was from the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, which was 30-45% in earlier days, is now reduced to 5% amid the pandemic, Das said.

Hence, despite having an NARCL, the industry is not hoping for a significant recovery. “The major challenge is that assets mentioned in the list are not very lucrative and buyers will also offer the cheapest rate,” said an industry expert, who did not wish to be quoted.

Siby Antony, former MD and CEO of Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction and a veteran in the sector, believes that ARCs will be better at reviving assets, but is not very sure whether the NARCL will recover.

“I am not hopeful. Because these (the 26 accounts) are bad assets, and finally all will go under liquidation,” Antony said.

Watch: Bad bank can only be a warehouse of bad assets, says Siby Antony



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What are NARCL and IDRCL? How do they work and what is the plan?, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced the formation of a government-backed bad bank, National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL). The Union Cabinet has approved up to Rs 30,600 crore of securities receipts.

What is NARCL?

The NARCL has been incorporated under the Companies Act and has applied to the Reserve Bank of India for license as an Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC). NARCL is basically a bad bank created by the government in the mould of an asset reconstruction company.

The NARCL will pick up bad loans above a certain threshold from banks and would aim to sell them to prospective buyers of distressed debt. The NARCL will also be responsible for valuing bad loans to determine at what price they would be sold. The bad bank would provide government receipts to banks as it takes on non-performing assets from their books.

State-owned banks will hold 51% stake, while FIs or debt management companies will hold 49%.

What is IDRCL?

Along with NARCL, the government will also set up the India Debt Resolution Company Ltd (IDRCL). The IDRCL is a service company or an operational entity, which will manage assets and loop in market professionals and turnaround experts. Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and Public FIs will hold a maximum of 49% stake and the rest will be with private sector lenders.

Background

Last year, The Indian Banks’ Association had proposed to create a bad bank for swift resolution of non-performing assets (NPAs). Following this, the finance minister in the 2021-22 Union Budget proposed the setting up of an ARC, along with an Asset Management Company (AMC), to take over the stressed debt of banks.

During the Union Budget 2021-22, Sitharaman said the bad bank will manage and dispose the assets to alternate investment funds and other potential investors for eventual value realisation.

In August, IBA moved an application to the RBI seeking licence to set up the over Rs 6,000-crore bad bank. The NARCL was incorporated last month in Mumbai, following the registration with the Registrar of Companies.

Also read: Finance Minister Sitharaman announces bad bank, Cabinet approves backing of up to Rs 30,600 crore on securities receipts

The Plan

The government will not have any direct equity contribution to NARCL. It will guarantee securities receipts issued by NARCL, which will buy the bad loans from banks.

These receipts will be valid for five years, and condition precedent for invocation of guarantee will be resolution or liquidation.

NARCL is intended to resolve stressed loan assets above Rs 500 crore each, amounting to about Rs 2 lakh crore. In phase I, fully provisioned assets of about Rs 90,000 crore are expected to be transferred to NARCL, while the remaining assets with lower provisions would be transferred in phase II.

As per industry practice, it will pay up to 15% of the agreed value for the loans in cash and the remaining 85% would be securities receipts.

The NARCL will acquire assets by making an offer to the lead bank. Once NARCL’s offer is accepted, IDRCL will be looped in for management and value addition.

How is NARCL different from existing ARCs?

The proposed bad bank will have a public sector character and majority ownership is likely to rest with state-owned banks.

At present, ARCs typically seek a steep discount on loans. With the NARCL, the valuation issue is unlikely to come up since this is a government initiative.

The government-backed ARC will have deep pockets to buy out big accounts, and thereby free up banks from carrying these accounts on their books.

Watch: Bad bank can be only a warehouse of bad assets, says Siby Antony

What benefit do banks get from this new structure?

It will incentivize quicker action on resolving stressed assets, and help in better value realisation. This approach will also permit freeing up banks personnel to focus on increasing business and credit growth.

As holders of these stressed assets and securities receipts, banks will receive the gains. Further, it aims to bring improvement in banks’ valuations and enhance their ability to raise market capital.

Watch: Bad bank to preserve value, timely sale of stressed assets: IBA CEO



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Finance Minister Sitharaman announces bad bank, Cabinet approves backing of up to Rs 30,600 crore on securities receipts, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced the much-awaited bad bank, and said that the Union Cabinet approved on Wednesday the sovereign backing of up to Rs 30,600 crore for the securities receipts.

The planned National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL) will issue securities receipts to banks as it takes on non-performing assets from their books. These securities receipts will be valid for five years.

“The idea behind it is to ensure value locked within assets is used making banking system robust. So limit provides an incentive for banks. If process delayed beyond 5 years, guarantee can’t be invoked,” Sitharaman said.

Read: What is a bad bank and why is it needed?

The NARCL will pay up to 15% of the agreed value for the loans in cash and the remaining 85% would be government-guaranteed security receipts, the finance minister announced. State-owned banks will hold 51% stake, while FIs or debt management companies will hold 49%.

Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda said the government will not face any fiscal outgo for the guarantees it provides to banks. NPAs worth Rs 2 lakh crore will be sent to the NARCL, and of this Rs 90,000 crore will be transferred in the first phase.

Along with NARCL, the government will also set up an India Debt Resolution company. The service company will manage assets and loop in market professionals and turnaround experts. Public sector banks and public FIs will hold a maximum of 49% stake and the remaining will be held by private banks.

Watch: Bad bank can only be a warehouse of bad assets, says Siby Antony

The banks’ asset quality review had happened in 2015, which had revealed very high incidence of NPAs. After recognition, quantification of NPAs started in a planned manner and state owned banks, in the last six years, recovered Rs 5,01,479 crore, she said.

In 2018, just two out of 21 public sector banks were profitable. But in 2021, only two banks reported losses, Sitharaman added.

Watch: Bad bank to preserve value, timely sale of stressed assets: IBA CEO

During the Union Budget 2021-22, Sitharaman had announced the creation of NARCL or bad bank to resolve large cases of stress. The bad bank will manage and dispose the assets to alternate investment funds and other potential investors for eventual value realisation, she had said.

In August, the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) moved an application to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seeking licence to set up a the Rs 6,000-crore bad bank. The NARCL was incorporated last month in Mumbai, following the registration with Registrar of Companies.



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Indian Banks’ Association will solely oversee EASE 4.0 banking reforms, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) will oversee Enhanced Access and Service Excellence (EASE) reforms in public sector banks along with “door step banking” services. Until now the work being done jointly by consultancy firm Boston Consultancy Group (BCG) and IBA, according to a report.

Ease 4.0 was announced just a few days back finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

This year PSBs will focus on introducing and promoting new analytics-based offers to existing retail customers like pre-approved car loans, EMI offers on e-commerce purchases and also for existing MSME customers.

EASE focuses on six themes of customer responsiveness, responsible banking, credit offtake, PSBs as Udyami Mitra, deepening financial inclusion and digitalisation, and developing personnel for brand PSB.

It is part of the reforms agenda devised on the recommendations made at the PSB Manthan held in November, 2017 involving senior management of PSBs and representatives from government.

The overarching framework for the reforms agenda is “Responsive and Responsible PSBs”.

As per the proposed reform agenda, banks will leverage partnerships with third parties, including agritech firms and strive to automate processing and sanction of agricultural loans based on field visit, borrower interaction, and risk assessment in states with digitised land records.

Under the co-lending model with non-banking finance companies, banks will take 80 per cent exposure, while NBFCs will provide customer service and grievance redressal.

Indradhanush failure

The government’s earlier recapitalization programme Indradhanush had failed to meet desired objectives.

According to an earlier report by India Ratings, while the scheme envisaged to recapitalise banks based on their performance and its ability to support credit expansion, in reality the capital infused was largely consumed to tide over losses resulting from provisions required for non-performing assets (NPAs). The Indradhanush plan was announced in August 2015 to help turnaround public sector banks.

The credit rating agency had said that unless structural changes are implemented, the requirement for capital infusion is likely to continue even though the quantum required may be lower. This is because large part of the current stress in the balance sheets of PSBs has already been recognised and provided for.



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Tamilnad Mercantile Bank launches initiatives to celebrate 100th anniversary, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Chennai, Sep 12 (PTI) Tamilnad Mercantile Bank on Sunday rolled out a host of initiatives to mark its centennial, including doorstep banking services for the convenience of customers besides an awareness campaign on Covid-19 vaccination. Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman kicked off the centenary celebrations of the bank in Tuticorin, by launching a postal stamp and a specialised ‘postal card’. The bank’s managing director and CEO, K V Rama Moorthy said the bank has stood the test of time and witnessed various historical events like the country’s independence, emergency situation and liberalization of the economy. “To help borrowers overcome the impact of Covid-19, the bank has covered 13,753 beneficiaries by disbursing Rs 1,567.62 crore. We were the first bank to introduce Robotics in currency chest to sort and bundle currencies in order to provide quality service to customers”, Moorthy said in a press release.

“As part of our Centenary celebrations, we are kick-starting multiple initiatives, starting with special postage stamp and postal cards. We are also launching the TMB Mobile DigiLobby and a Mobile Vaccination Drive to support our communities. “, he said.

The disbursement of loans to pharmaceuticals and health care facilities would be at the heart of year-long series of events and initiatives, he added.

Tamil Nadu based TMB has 509 branches across the country. In FY 2020-21, the bank’s net profit stood at Rs 603 crore as against Rs 408 crore in FY 2019-20.

Total advances were Rs 31,541 crore during the period as compared to Rs 28,236 crore recorded in same period last year, while total deposits grew to Rs 40,970 crore during the period under review from Rs 36,825 crore registered previous year. the release added. PTI VIJ ROH ROH



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