NEW DELHI: The Finance ministry has asked the public sector banks to closely monitor the top 20 large cases of defaults that are undergoing insolvency proceedings.
In a review meeting chaired by M Nagaraju, secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS), held on Thursday, banks were advised to ensure active monitoring of top 20 cases of banks at the managing director level, with all proceedings to be attended by senior officials not below the rank of general manager.
The DFS secretary also asked the banks to minimise procedural delays and strongly oppose unnecessary adjournments. The review meeting took stock of key operational challenges and ways to enhance the efficiency of resolution mechanisms through the National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL) and the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
During the meeting, it was informed that NARCL has acquired 22 accounts with an exposure of Rs 95,711 crore. It was also informed that 28 accounts with an exposure of Rs 1.28 lakh crore were resolved by banks, subsequent to the NARCL making the offers, reflecting the indirect impact of NARCL’s presence in settling/successfully pursuing recovery through other resolution mechanisms.
Banks were advised to strengthen their synergies with NARCL to ensure efficient and timely resolutions, it noted. The ministry has decided to set up a a committee under SBI to examine and submit a fresh list of accounts for transfer to bolster the resolution pipeline and align the process with its intended objectives.
The meeting also discussed the lack of real-time information sharing with financial creditors (FCs) about applications filed by operational creditors (OCs), which often caused coordination challenges.