'No timeline for identification of additional defaulters'

New Delhi: RBI Deputy Governor S S Mundra today ruled out coming out with next batch of loan defaulters against whom insolvency proceedings will be initiated.

The Internal Advisory Committee (IAC), comprising of a majority of its independent board members, secretariat is periodically coming out with communications, he said adding, the list of 12 defaulters would also be informed by them.

"Twelve cases are being referred. Banks are encouraged to resolve in six months' time other cases. So that being the case where is the question of quickly coming out with another list," he said.

The banking sector is saddled with non-performing assets (NPAs) of over Rs 8 lakh crore, of which Rs 6 lakh crore is with public sector banks (PSBs). Earlier this week, the RBI identified 12 accounts for insolvency proceedings with each of them having over Rs 5,000 crore of outstanding loans, accounting for 25 per cent of total NPAs of banks.

These 12 accounts would qualify for immediate reference under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the RBI said. The Reserve Bank had set up an Internal Advisory Committee (IAC) to advise it with regard to the cases that may
be considered for reference for resolution under the IBC.

The IAC arrived at an objective, non-discretionary criterion for referring accounts for resolution under the IBC. In particular, the IAC recommended for IBC reference of all accounts with fund and non-fund based outstanding amount
greater than Rs 5,000 crore, with 60 per cent or more classified as non-performing by banks as of March 31, 2016.