Bank union seeks investigation into top 100 NPA accounts

The RBI's six-month moratorium on all term loans got over on August 31

A union of bank employees on Monday asked the Centre to order an investigation into the top 100 non-performing asset (NPA) account holders.

The probe in these accounts should be carried out by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) or any other competent agency, the Bank Employees' Federation of India (BEFI) said.

The NPAs of the public sector banks have increased to about Rs 8 lakh crore, of which 89 percent pertains to corporate accounts, the BEFI (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) said in a statement.

"We demand that Government of India institute a thorough investigation by the SFIO or any other agency into the affairs of top 100 NPA account holders, take all necessary steps to recover the bank dues, declare the names of corporate defaulters and save the public sector banks, taxpayers money and the Indian economy," the union said.

Most of the loans to corporates, which later became NPAs, were sanctioned by corporate offices and the boards of individual banks, it alleged.