Punjab National Bank: Not collated data on one-time settlement scheme recoveries

Punjab National Bank (PNB), the country’s second-largest public sector bank, has said it has not been collating data on recoveries made under its one-time settlement (OTS) scheme for small-ticket loans.

FE had sought information through a right-to-information (RTI) application regarding recoveries made under the OTS scheme between its launch May 2017 and December 2017, in response to which the bank wrote, “The information sought by you is not readily available and gathering/collection of such information may take lot of time and also disproportionately divert bank’s useful resources in compilation and collating of data. Hence disclosure of the information sought is exempted from disclosure under section 7(9) of RTI Act, 2005.”

PNB had launched two special OTS schemes in 2017 for loans with outstandings up to Rs 5 crore. The scheme for loans falling under the doubtful-3 and loss assets categories came into effect on May 1, while that for loans in the substandard and doubtful-1 and 2 categories became effective on July 1. Both schemes were scheduled to end on March 31, 2018.

As per the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) stipulations, a substandard asset is one which has remained NPA for a period less than or equal to 12 months. A loan is classified as doubtful if it has remained in the substandard category for a period of 12 months.

The reply was dated January 24, 2018. In response to an appeal, the appellate authority upheld the original reply. “I do not find any infirmity in the reply provided by CPIO (central public information officer). I concur with the opinion of the CPIO and uphold the decision,” appellate authority NK Arora said.

Speaking to analysts after PNB’s June quarter results, Sunil Mehta, managing director and chief executive officer at the bank, had said, “They (the OTS schemes) are non-discriminatory, especially meant for small advances with adequate discretionary authority at field level and at the branch level, which will facilitate quick decisions on one-time settlements, because it is non-discretionary and as well as this will give a field level power.”

Punjab National Bank