Wilful defaults, loans which are deliberately not repaid by companies despite having the capacity to do so, have surged 152 per cent in the last four years of Modi government. A new report prepared by Pinkerton – a risk management consultancy along with PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry – says that both gross NPAs and wilful defaults have been going up post 2008 financial crisis.
The value of wilful defaults stood at Rs 99,954 crore in 2017, up from Rs 39,508 crore in 2014. In fact, the increased wilful default numbers have significantly contributed to the increased gross NPA numbers, inflating it from Rs 2,63,015 crore in 2014 to Rs 7,90,268 crore in 2017.
"During the post global slowdown, the slow paced growth of industrial sector and the economy coupled with global developments eroded the repaying capacity of borrowers. This ultimately resulted in a steep surge in payment defaults, especially wilful payments defaults. If the health of the banking system is to be improved, it is crucial to tighten the regulatory noose on wilful defaulters," says the report.
Number of wilful default cases too have gone up from 5092 in 2014 to 8651 cases in FY17. State-wise analysis of wilful defaults show that out of a total of 8651 cases, Maharashtra registered over 1600 cases, the highest among all states. This is followed by West Bengal, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh. Maximum number of wilful default cases have happened with nationalised banks, that too SBI and its associate banks.
The report recommends improvement in credit sanctioning process of banks, including background verification before allocation of funds. It further recommends that government should avoid mass loan waivers as it encourages wilful defaults and leaves an impression that their loan repayment will be waived.
Vijay Mallya, Winsome Diamonds' Jatin Mehta, REI Agro's Sandip Jhunjhunwala and promoters of Deccan Chronicle holdings are some of the prominent names on the wilful defaulters' list. While Nirav Modi aptly fits in the wilful defaulter category, it is not clear whether RBI has classified him as a wilful defaulter.