State Bank of India topped the list of banks with wilful defaulters with Rs 15,069 crore stuck in 997 accounts of borrowers, recording a rise of Rs 2,759 crore in fiscal 2017. (Source: IE)

Banks are observing a rise in wilful defaults, or refusal of payment obligations by borrowers, despite having the strength to pay the loan. According to data available from TransUnion CIBIL, a credit information bureau, local lenders have seen a nearly 45 percent surge of Rs 34,900 crore in wilful defaults from last year, as per Indian Express report. The data portrays that the numbers of wilful defaults by borrowers from banks spiked up from Rs 74,694 crore in March 2016 to Rs 1,09,594 crore in March 2017, added the report. The data further shows that over the last five years, the number of the wilful defaults has risen by over Rs 84,000 crore.

State Bank of India topped the list of banks with wilful defaulters with Rs 15,069 crore stuck in 997 accounts of borrowers, recording a rise of Rs 2,759 crore in fiscal 2017. Punjab National Bank was second with wilful defaults of Rs 10,989 crore in 871 accounts. Bank of Baroda’s wilful defaults soared from Rs 1,367 crore in the year ended March 2016 to Rs 4,785 crore by March 2017.Talking about the financial institutions, then LIC’s wilful defaults came down from Rs 1,304 crore in March to Rs 1,034 crore by March 2017. Also, the company’s IFCI’s spiked up from 1,069 crores to Rs Rs 1,274 crore in March 2017.

Talking about the financial institutions, then LIC’s wilful defaults came down from Rs 1,304 crore in March to Rs 1,034 crore by March 2017. Also, the company’s IFCI’s spiked up from 1,069 crores to Rs Rs 1,274 crore in March 2017.The wilful-default accounts of SBI comprise of GET Engineering (Rs 424 crore), Zenith Birla (Rs 139 crore) and Rajput Retail (Rs 282 crore), among others. Furthermore, Bank of Baroda has classified Sidhivinayak Logistics for Rs 281 crore in defaults and ABC Cotspin for Rs 362 crore. PNB has filed suits against Zoom Developers, for Rs 410 crore in defaults, Forever Precious (Rs 747 crore) and Winsom Diamond (Rs 899 crore), reported IE report.

A senior official of a leading public sector bank told IE that there has been a surge in wilful defaults. The process is ongoing in which banks categorize borrower who has the capacity to honour the commitments as wilful defaulters. These are mostly legal accounts.

Notably, a wilful default is defined by the RBI as one where the unit has defaulted in meeting its payment/repayment obligations to the lender when it has the capacity to honour these commitments. It also includes those that have siphoned off or not utilized funds for/from the specific purposes for which finance was availed. And, those that have disposed of or removed movable fixed assets or immovable property given for the purpose of securing a term loan.