Latest News

Global ratings agency Moody's on Thursday said private lender Axis Bank 's asset quality may deteriorate further and more than what was previously expected over the next 12-18 months. In addition, compared to the other rated Indian banks, the bank has been a laggard in recognising its asset quality problems, a credit negative for its credit quality, Moody's said in its statement. Axis Bank's asset quality deteriorated significantly in the September quarter. On October 17, Axis Bank reported a 24 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase in non-performing loans (NPL) in the quarter that ended September 2017. The gross NPL ratio increased to 5.9 per cent at end of September 2017, from five per cent in the quarter ended June 2017. It is higher than expectations and a credit negative for the bank. ALSO READ: Axis Bank Q2 net jumps 36% to Rs 432 cr but bad loans rise

Indian banks need to provide a bare minimum of Rs 18,000 crore additionally towards 12 big-ticket bad accounts identified for insolvency resolution, says India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra). In June 2017, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had asked lenders to refer 12 identified accounts to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. The ratings agency estimated the current average provisioning towards these accounts at 42 per cent. The extra provisioning needed would reduce the profits of creditor banks by 25 per cent and reduce the return on assets by 12 basis points in the current financial year. Banks with average provisioning of 50 per cent on the 12 identified accounts may also need to provide additional funds to reach the new minimum required provisioning, which stands at 50 per cent towards each of the accounts. Some of the large bad loans being referred for insolvency include Essar Steel, Bhushan Steel, Alok Industries, Lan...