State-owned banks had classified Rs 1.50 lakh crore ($21.76 billion) worth of loans as "wilful defaults" in 2018-19, with the biggest lender State Bank of India accounting for nearly a third, the finance minister said in the parliament.

Under law, wilful defaulters are classified as firms or individuals who own large businesses and deliberately avoid repayments.

The State Bank of India saw the highest number of wilful defaults at Rs 46,158 crore, while Punjab National Bank stood second at Rs 25,090 crore, with Bank of India at Rs 9,890 crore, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to queries in the parliament on Tuesday.

According to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), gross loans and advances in state-run banks came in at Rs 63,820 crore, as of March 31, 2019.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has been tightening norms against wilful defaulters especially after aviation tycoon Vijay Mallya, fugitive billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi fled the country following repayment defaults.

Wilful defaulters are not sanctioned any additional facilities by banks or financial institutions, and they are debarred from launching ventures for five years.

The government has debarred wilful defaulters and companies with wayward borrowers from accessing capital markets to raise funds or participate in insolvency resolution process.

Bank chiefs can also authorise look-out notices for defaulters to prevent them from leaving the country.

Public-sector banks filed 1,475 police complaints against wilful defaulters in the last three financial years, the finance minister added.