Central Bank's steps to reduce NPAs

Source: The Hindu,Aug11,2010:Corporate Reporter


CHENNAI: In an effort to reduce NPA (non-performing assets) accounts, Central Bank of India which is entering shortly its centenary year, has been taking various steps by resorting to out of court settlements.


Addressing presspersons here on Tuesday, S. Kannan, General Manager, Chennai Zone, said the bank had organised Lok Adalat, exclusively for DRT (Debt Recovery Tribunal) cases on August 6 under the auspices of Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority. Mutual negotiation was undertaken with various litigants from different DRTs functioning in Tamil Nadu and the bank had settled 24 cases involving an amount of Rs. 12.35 crore, Mr. Kannan said.

Early in January an adalat was conducted for DRT and non-DRT cases and 225 cases were settled for Rs. 13.50 crore. I

It was proposed to conduct another adalat next month exclusively for pre-litigation cases pertaining to Chennai city, Mr. Kannan said.


On the performance of Chennai Zone, Mr. Kannan said the zone comprising Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry achieved a business of Rs. 16,300 crore with Tamil Nadu alone contributing Rs. 12,462 crore.
The credit deposit ratio of the bank in Tamil Nadu was 158 per cent with deposits of Rs. 4,869 crore and advances of Rs. 7,593 crore.


For the current financial year, the plan was to increase the business of this zone to Rs. 20,000 crore.