Gross NPAs of banks goes down, says Govt

New Delhi, Mar 7 (UNI) The Government today (Mar 7, 2006) said the gross non-performing assets of public sector banks have reduced fom 5.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pawan Kumar Bansal said the net non-performing assets of PSBs have also come down from 2.1 per cent to 1.5 per cent as on 31st December, 2005.

On the liquidity crisis in banking sector, Mr Bansal said the surplus cash balance of the Central government had reached its peak at Rs 53,609 crore on December 23, 2005. He said it has since declined to Rs 36,355 crore as on February 28, 2006.

UNI