Photo: Aniruddha Chowdhury/MintMumbai: India’s regulator unearthed about $3.6 billion of bad loans in the books of the country’s biggest bank, amplifying questions about distress in the financial sector given underreporting by some rivals as well. The biggest private lender HDFC Bank Ltd had a Rs2,050 crore divergence, while ICICI Bank Ltd said—without elaborating—that it isn’t required to make disclosures on the topic even as provisions for bad loans climbed. Indian banks must disclose such discrepancies if the gap between reported numbers and the RBI’s audit findings is more than 15%. Divergences occurred earlier as well, though what’s changed is the mandatory disclosure of the gaps, central bank deputy governor N.S. “I don’t want to be very optimistic about the March quarter, nor am I pessimistic,” Kumar said.

Source: Mint February 12, 2018 03:22 UTC