- The finance ministry said the top 50 willful defaulters owe Rs 87,295 crore to banks and financial institutions.
- SCBs have written off an aggregate amount of Rs 10,57,326 crore during the last five financial years.
- Fugitive Mehul Choksi’s Gitanjali Gems is the biggest wilful defaulter owing Rs 8,738 crore to banks.
- 66,069 frauds were reported in 2022-23 causing a loss of Rs 85.25 crore. In the previous year, 65,893 frauds were reported with financial implications of Rs 115.36 crore.
- In order to prevent fraudulent online transactions, RBI has been issuing various instructions to regulated entities from time to time.
The finance ministry said the top 50 wilful defaulters including Gitanjali Gems Limited, Era Infra Engineering Limited, REI Agro Limited, and ABG Shipyard Limited owe Rs 87,295 crore to banks and financial institutions. Of this, the top 10 wilful defaulters owe Rs 40,825 crore to schedule commercial banks (SCBs), Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
SCBs have written off an aggregate amount of Rs 10,57,326 crore during the last five financial years (RBI provisional data for FY 2022-23), he said.
Fugitive Mehul Choksi’s Gitanjali Gems is the biggest wilful defaulter owing Rs 8,738 crore to banks. It is followed by Era Infra Engineering Limited owing Rs 5,750 crore, REI Agro Limited Rs 5,148 crore, ABG Shipyard Limited Rs 4,774 crore, and Concast Steel and Power Limited Rs 3,911 crore.
Karad said the provision enabling banks to enter into compromise settlement in respect of borrowers categorized as fraud or wilful defaulter is not a new regulatory instruction and has been the settled regulatory stance for more than fifteen years.
As per RBI’s circular, he said, regulated entities may undertake compromise settlements or technical write-offs in respect of accounts classified as fraud or wilful defaulter without prejudice to the criminal proceeding underway against such borrowers, and all such proposals need to be approved by the board.
Replying to another question, Karad said the public at large has benefited from the amalgamation as the amalgamated bank is offering enhanced access to banking services through a stronger and larger network. Employees have benefited through opening up of wider career and geographical opportunities while ensuring that no employee has lost his or her job as a result of the amalgamation, he said.
In a separate reply, Karad said 66,069 frauds were reported in 2022-23 causing a loss of Rs 85.25 crore. In the previous year, 65,893 frauds were reported with financial implications of Rs 115.36 crore. In order to prevent fraudulent online transactions, he said, RBI has been issuing various instructions to the regulated entities from time to time.
Further, he said, to enhance the cyber security posture of online transactions and prevent cyber frauds, Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) issues alerts and advisories regarding the latest cyber threats/vulnerabilities and countermeasures to protect computers and networks on an ongoing basis, tracking and disabling phishing websites and facilitating the investigation of fraudulent activities in coordination with service providers, regulators, and law enforcement agencies.
With regard to complaints received by the JanSamarth Portal, he said, a total of 23,276 grievances have been received since its launch, out of which 21,250 complaints have been closed in a time-bound manner. JanSamarth Portal was launched to provide a common platform for availing loans under a few credit-linked government schemes to start with.
(With inputs from agencies)
