Sashakt Panel on Bad Loans

Independent investment management businesses and advisory boards would be established to speed up the settlement of poor loans in the banking sector, according to Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, who announced the government’s acceptance of the Sunil Mehta committee’s five-point proposal. According to the minister of finance, the group did not advocate creating a ‘bad bank’ to cope with the rising NPAs in government banks.

Bad Loans Meaning

A bad loan seems to be an expenditure that is incurred by an organisation when a user’s repayment of debt that was granted previously is deemed unrecoverable and hence reported as a charge off. A bad loan is a major risk that an organisation accounts for that provides credits to clients and it must manage because there’s always a chance that payments may not be made.

The Most Important Takeaways from Bad Loans:

• Expenditure of bad loans must be assessed simultaneously using the permit technique as the transaction to conform to the matching principle. 
• It is a cost of business having credit consumers because there’s always a chance of failure when offering credit.

Project Sashakt

The team, chaired by Sunil Mehta, non-executive director of PNB, has suggested a five-pronged strategy for Project “Sashakt,” which contains the following:

• SME resolution process for bad loans worth Rs 50 crore includes the formation of an advisory board by banks to formulate and validate the programs, as well as the supply of new revenue
• For debts between Rs. 50 crore to Rs. 500 crore, a bank-led settlement strategy is used, with a settlement time of 180 days.
• To cope with NPA instances of more than Rs 500 crore, a Wealth Management Corporation (AMC)/Alternative Investment Group (AIF)-led resolution strategy is used. The Alternative Investment Fund would gather banks and investment firms financing to bid on distressed businesses in bankruptcy and liquidation proceedings.
• For assets bigger than Rs 500 crore well before the NCLT or any properties where the solution is still waiting, the NCLT/IBC procedure is used.
• A platform for selling both functioning and non-performing commodities.

Effectiveness of the Project

It will speed up the process of loan settlement for banks easier because it establishes specific norms and time constraints. Auctioning will aid in the resolution of issues of stressed assets by raising the costs of non-performing loans due to bidding competitiveness. The procedure will be streamlined because the government will not be involved in small and medium-sized loans. The decrease of the default threshold to 90 days would hasten the debt settlement procedure. The strategy will assist in changing the properties so that new employees are created by reviving enterprises and averting job losses that otherwise might occur due to the defaults. This will bring in genuine long-term external financing to relieve the domestic banking industry of its load. It will guarantee a strong management and credit structure to prevent a lack of policies on loan accumulation.

Limitations of the Project

The panel is made up entirely of PSU bankers and only provides the bankers’ points of view. The panel’s document was issued remarkably quickly, raising issues about whether enough time is given to another complicated and massive topic. The notion of providing further loans to revitalise the asset has been met with concerns that this may result in loan evergreening. Lenders will continue to receive loans to pay off prior ones.

Conclusion

A group chaired by the PNB chairperson Sunil Mehta suggested Project Sashakt. Up to 50 crores in bad loans would be addressed at the financial statement level, with a 90-day timeframe. Banks would establish an inter-creditor contract for 50-500 crore problematic debts, allowing the leading bank to follow a resolution process in 180 days; otherwise, they send the assets to the NCLT. The committee recommends a separate AMC for debts over 500 crores, with institutional capital provided through the AIF. The goal is to assist in the consolidation of distressed assets.