The government plans to set up a high-powered committee to deal with the issue of non performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans of state-run banks, a senior finance ministry official said on Friday.
"It (committee) was discussed at a meeting the union finance minister (Arun Jaitley) had with heads of public sector banks. It's too early to get into specifics, but it will certainly have a more focused look on certain sectors," Department of Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal told reportes in New Delhi.
"NPAs is a matter of concern and the government is vigilant in this regard. The government is also looking into the problems faced by steel, aluminium and textile sectors," she said on the sidelines of an event organised by the Centre for Digital Financial Inclusion.
The gross NPAs of public sector banks increased to 6.03 percent at the end of June 2015, compared with 5.20 percent in March 2015.
Noting the massive stressed assets of state-run banks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October said the government would infuse Rs.70,000 crore in these banks in the next few years.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has allocated Rs.7,940 crore in the Budget in this fiscal for the recapitalisation of public sector banks.
"NPAs are a result of many factors. There is not one silver bullet that is going to deal with them. It will require us to take a multi-dimensional approach," union Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said on Friday at the same event.
