Bank of India (BoI) has put in place an aggressive bad loan recovery strategy and hopes to be out of the RBI’s watch list soon, the state-run lender’s Managing Director Dinabandhu Mohapatra said. Following inspection of books in March 2017, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) downgraded some of BoI’s accounts to NPA and placed the bank under the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework.
Downgrading of accounts impacted the profitability as well as non-performing asset (NPA) position of the bank retrospectively. “Fortunately, 70 per cent out of the loans downgraded by RBI are funded against Standby Letter of Credit (SBLC) issued by other banks. That means it is not exposure on borrower but exposure on banks.”
“So, we have to invoke the LC on the banks which have issued and they will pay us back. We have already recovered Rs 2,000 crore by revoking LC...nothing to be worried. It will be claimed back from banks. Within a short span we have claimed back Rs 2,000 crore,” Mohapatra told PTI.
He, however, did not disclose the total exposure, citing the ongoing audit. Asked by when the bank expects to be out of the PCA list, he said this has to decided by the RBI. “We can expect and I am quite hopeful that in quickest time we will be taking care of all these issues and we will be definitely going forward with the support of the capital to be provided by the government and revival in the economy,” he said.