Protest to highlight banking crisis

The Kozhikode district committee of the Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) will organise a 24-hour protest here from May 11 to gather public opinion about the need to protect public sector banks, highlighting their problems such as bad debts and the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill.

BEFI State committee vice president Rajeevan C. told the media here on Tuesday that the bad debts of public sector banks had been on the rise over the past many years, raising concerns about the future of banks itself.

According to the latest report, the total NPAs of public sector banks now stood at ₹9.5 lakh crore. Mr. Rajeevan alleged that 91% of the amount was the loans above ₹5 crore. Between April 2014 and and September 2017, public sector banks had written off ₹2.42 lakh crore, most of which were the loans taken by big companies. He alleged that the nexus between senior politicians, top bank executives and corporate bigwigs were posing a threat to public sector banks.