As of March 2020, banks have written off loans worth Rs 62,000 crore of top 100 wilful defaulters, stated a news report. It stated that the banks have written off Rs 58,375 crore as of March 2019.
The report stated that Right to Information (RTI) Act activist Biswanath Goswami shared the information it received from Reserve Bank of India which was a response to RTI filed by him.
Banks wrote off Rs 3,098 crore of loans of Winsome Diamonds, Rs 2,789 crore of basmati rice maker REI Agro, Rs 1,979 crore of chemicals firm Kudos Chemie, Rs 1,927 crore of construction firm Zoom Developers, and Rs 1,875 crore of shipbuilding company ABG Shipyard. Loans written off for Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines was Rs 1,314 crore, the data showed.
According to a response to another RTI, RBI stated Indian banks have written off Rs 68,607 crore of debt of top 50 willful defaulters till September 30, 2019.
In the past, Goswami had requested RBI under RTI act to share information about loans of the top 100 defaulters and wilful defaulters that banks had written off. These write off figures vary as there is recovery also taking place simultaneously.