BoB and Indian Bank NPAs Increase Multiple Times in 6 Years: RTI Data

Indian Bank’s NPAs increased from Rs 8,068.05 crore on March 31, 2014 to Rs 32,561.26 crore on March 31, 2020.

Unprofitable assets of the Bank of Baroda soared more than six times to Rs 73,140 crore, while those of Indian Bank increased four times to Rs 32,561.26 crore in six years, according to a Right to Information response . The Bank of Baroda (BoB) NPA increased from Rs 11,876 crore at the end of March 2014 to Rs 73,140 crore at the end of December 2019, RTI’s response showed.

The number of NPA accounts increased from 2.08,035 as of March 31, 2014 to 6.17,306 as of December 2019.

Indian Bank’s NPAs increased from Rs 8,068.05 crore on March 31, 2014 to Rs 32,561.26 crore on March 31, 2020.

NPA accounts increased to 5.64,816 as of March 31, 2020, from 2.48,921 to March 31, 2014, based on the response to the Right to Information (RTI) queries on the number of NPA accounts and the total amount presented by Kota-based activist Sujeet Swami.

RTI data also showed that state-run lenders earned a large amount of SMS alert service fees, minimum balance charges, locker charges, debit and credit card service charges, accounting book tracking charges, among others.

According to the reply, Bank of Baroda raised Rs 107.7 million rupees through the SMS alert fee from April 1, 2018 to February 29, 2020. Indian Bank raised around Rs 21 million rupees through the SMS service fee during the same period.

Swami said: “My reason for presenting RTI was to unearth NPA amounts from two national banks between 2014 and 2020”. He said he has sought the same information from the State Bank of India and the National Bank of Punjab, but has not yet provided the data.