Together these two banks account for Rs 37,382 crore or 40 per cent of the total outstanding loans. Total outstanding loans due to public sector banks by wilful defaulters amounted to Rs 92,376 crore, according to the Finance Ministry data.

As per PTI reports, 27 public sector banks, including SBI and its five associates had written off Rs 81,683 crore, the highest in the last five fiscals during 2016-17. The amount was 41 per cent higher than that in the previous fiscal. Gross NPAs of the public sector banks rose to Rs 6.41 lakh crore at the end of March 2017 as against Rs 5.02 lakh crore a year ago.

The central government and the Reserve Bank of India are working on a recapitalisation plan for public sectors banks reeling under massive stressed assets, RBI governor Urjit Patel said on Saturday. Pointing out that the state-run banks will need to take haircuts on current exposures under any resolution plan within or outside the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, Patel said higher provisioning requirement will affect the capital position of several banks. “This would necessitate a higher recapitalisation of these banks. The government and the Reserve Bank are in dialogue to prepare a packet of measures to enable the public sector banks to shore up the requisite capital in a time-bound manner,” Patel said at a conference on insolvency and bankruptcy in Mumbai. “Gross NPA ratio of the banking system at 9.6% and stressed advances ratio at 12% as of March 2017 is indeed a matter of concern,” Patel said.