Banks restructure corporate loans of Rs 2.04 lakh crore in FY17

New Delhi: The amount of corporate loans restructured by lenders has seen a decline in the last three financial years, according to the data tabled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

Banks restructured loans, that were sanctioned to companies, of worth Rs 3,70,279 crore in FY2014-15 and Rs 2,99,111 crore in 2015-16.

The amount of restructured corporate loans came down to Rs 2,04,884 crore in the last financial year, as per the data.

The finance minister was responding to a question seeking names of companies whose loans have been restructured and at what terms.

"Any restructuring is to be carried out in accordance with detailed guidelines issued by RBI on restructuring like Joint Lenders' Forum (JLF), Strategic Debt Restructuring (SDR) and Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A)," Jaitley said.

The finance minister further said that "the names and details of borrowers are covered under section 45E of RBI Act, 1934 and banking laws.

"... Which (the Act and banking laws) oblige financial institutions to maintain secrecy about the affairs of their constituents."

On provision for restructuring of farm loans in case of natural calamities, he said banks can facilitate restructuring, including conversion of short-term debt to term loan or re-schedulement or repayment time-frame to such borrowers with benefit of retention of asset classification.

"For agricultural accounts that became impaired on account of reasons other than natural calamities, restructuring is allowed in terms of RBI guidelines on Income Recognition and Asset Classification (IRAC)," Jaitley said.