Bank stocks surge as FM promises solution to bad loans

Shares of public sector banks

rose by up to 4.5 per cent today after Finance Minister Arun

Jaitley promised a solution to the growing NPA problem within

next few days.

The scrip of Bank of India rose by 4.5 per cent, Bank of

Baroda surged 4.16 per cent, Union Bank of India (3.18 per

cent), PNB (3 per cent) and SBI (2.49 per cent) on BSE.

Buying was also seen in private lenders, with ICICI Bank

trading 3.03 per cent higher and AXIS Bank 0.83 per cent up.

Promising a solution to the growing NPA problem in the

next few days, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday said

the resolution being worked out with the RBI will put enough

pressure on borrowers to settle dues.

He blamed the bad loans of public sector banks on just

30-50 companies, saying accounts of these will have to be

fixed to solve the issue.

The gross NPAs of public sector banks have risen to Rs

6.06 lakh crore in December 2016, from Rs 5.02 lakh crore at

the end of March 2016.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)