Public sector banks wrote off loans worth Rs 42,035 crore between April and September 2024, the first six months of FY2024-25, according to a Union Ministry of Finance reply in the Lok Sabha. The ministry said the accounting write-off did not cancel borrowers’ repayment liabilities and that banks continued recovery action.
What the reported figures show
The figures were reported by PTI on 9 December 2024 and by Scroll.in on 11 December 2024, based on the ministry’s parliamentary reply. The four largest bank amounts reported for April–September 2024 were:
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| Public sector bank | Reported write-offs |
|---|---|
| State Bank of India (SBI) | Rs 8,312 crore |
| Punjab National Bank (PNB) | Rs 8,061 crore |
| Union Bank of India | Rs 6,344 crore |
| Bank of Baroda | Rs 5,925 crore |
These are the four bank amounts highlighted in contemporaneous reporting, not a complete bank-by-bank breakdown.
Does a loan write-off mean the borrower no longer has to repay?
No. A write-off is an accounting treatment: a bank removes a loan classified as a bad loan from its books as an asset or records it as a loss. That accounting entry does not, by itself, forgive the debt or release the borrower from repayment.
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Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in the reported Lok Sabha reply: “Such write-off does not result in waiver of liabilities of borrowers and therefore, it does not benefit the borrower. The borrowers continue to be liable for repayment and banks continue to pursue recovery actions initiated in these accounts through various recovery mechanisms available to them,”
This is the ministry’s explanation of the reported figures, not a separate legal assessment of any individual loan or recovery action.
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How much did public sector banks recover during the same six months?
The ministry reported recoveries of Rs 37,253 crore from non-performing assets during April–September 2024. The reporting does not establish that these recoveries came from the particular accounts written off in that period. The recovery and write-off figures therefore should not be subtracted from one another or presented as a net amount for the same loans.
How does the six-month total compare with full-year figures?
The reported full-year write-off totals for public sector banks were Rs 1.14 lakh crore in FY2023-24 and Rs 1.18 lakh crore in FY2022-23. Those figures cover complete financial years, while Rs 42,035 crore covers only April–September 2024; the periods are not directly interchangeable.
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| Period | Reported public sector bank write-offs | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| FY2022-23 | Rs 1.18 lakh crore | Full financial year |
| FY2023-24 | Rs 1.14 lakh crore | Full financial year |
| April–September 2024 (first half of FY2024-25) | Rs 42,035 crore | Six months |
Sources and scope
The contemporaneous reports are PTI reporting republished by The Week on 9 December 2024 and Scroll.in’s report of 11 December 2024. Both describe a written Lok Sabha reply. The figures above are limited to amounts reported in those accounts; they do not establish a complete bank-by-bank table or link the recoveries to the loans written off in the same period.
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