A reliable government source informed myrepublica.com that final preparation is under way on the list of bank defaulters, who altogether have defaulted around Rs 4 billion worth of principal loans. "All preparations would be completed within 10 days, and the cabinet is expected to make its final decision within the next two weeks," said the source.
Last year, the government took a number of stringent actions against wilful bank defaulters who had a principal payment due over Rs 50 million, such as passport seizure, freezing of property, and barring them from assuming public posts. [break]
In continuation of the measures, in its budget for the current fiscal year the government has vowed to take stringent action against those wilful defaulters who have less than Rs 50 million in principal to pay.
"We are now engaged in an in-depth study of the list that we have received from various commercial banks, including classifying the loans under different sections and collecting names of defaulters´ parents and grandparents, and we are hopeful that all the processes would be completed within next 10 days," said the official.
The official further said that the majority of defaulters were from the manufacturing sector, mainly from readymade garments and woolen carpet businesses, followed by those in the trading and agriculture sectors. He said more than half of the total defaulted amount came from the manufacturing sector, and added that rice mills remained the top loan defaulters among the loans extended to the agriculture sector.
Similarly, the majority of the defaulted amount ranged between Rs 10 and 20 million, said the official. Eighty percent of the defaulted amount falls under the principal range, said the official.
Likewise, state-owned Rastriya Banijya Bank and semi state-owned Bank Limited, alone, represent around two-thirds of the defaulted loans of the banking system. Nepal Bangladesh Bank, Nepal Investment Bank, Nepal Industrial and Commercial Bank, and Himalayan Bank are among the private banks that have also forwarded the names of the defaulters, said the source.
prem@myrepublica.com
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