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Banks' bad loans up 11.23%: RBI

Indian banks' bad loans at the end of the past year to March rose 11.23 per cent to Rs 709.04 crore (Rs 709.04 billion), according to central bank data.

Nearly 80 per cent of the bad loans belonged to state-run banks, the central bank said in its annual report on the banking sector, Trend and Progress of Banking in India, released on Friday.

State-run banks dominate the sector, accounting for more than 70 per cent of loans and deposits.

But the proportion of bad loans to total advances fell to 10.4 per cent at the end of the past year from 11.4 per cent a year earlier due to substantial recoveries, the report said.

The ratio of bad loans less provisions to net advances also fell -- to 5.5 per cent at the end of the past year from 6.2 per cent a year earlier.

The report said that private-sector banks' bad loans had jumped to Rs 6,822 crore (Rs 68.22 billion) from Rs 1,617 crore (Rs 16.17 billion) a year earlier due to the merger between ICICI Bank and its founder, financial services firm ICICI Ltd.

ICICI's bad loans were not included in the yearly tally before the merger, which came into effect on March 30 to create India's largest private-sector bank, with more than a trillion rupees in assets.

ICICI Bank is also India's second-largest bank after government-owned State Bank of India, which has assets of more than three trillion rupees.

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