NPA (NON PERFORMING ASSETS)

NPA is defined as a loan asset, which has ceased to generate any income for a bank whether in the
form of interest or principal repayment. As per the prudential norms suggested by the Reserve Bank
of India (RBI), a bank cannot book interest on an NPA on accrual basis. In other words, such interests
can be booked only when it has been actually received. Therefore, an NPA account not only reduces
profitability of banks by provisioning in the profit and loss account, but their carrying cost is also
increased which results in excess & avoidable management attention. Apart from this, a high level of
NPA also puts strain on a bank’s net worth because banks are under pressure to maintain a desired
level of Capital Adequacy and in the absence of comfortable profit level; banks eventually look
towards their internal financial strength to fulfil the norms thereby slowly eroding the net worth.

Non Performing Assets

An asset, including a leased asset, becomes non performing when it ceases to generate income for
the bank.

A non performing asset (NPA) is a loan or an advance where;

i. interest and/ or instalment of principal remain overdue for a period of more than 90 days in
respect of a Term loan,

ii. the account remains ‘out of order’ , in respect of an Overdraft/Cash Credit (OD/CC),

iii. the bill remains overdue for a period of more than 90 days in the case of bills purchased and
discounted,

iv. the instalment of principal or interest thereon remains overdue for two crop seasons for short
duration crops,(Agricultural loans) v. the instalment of principal or interest thereon remains overdue
for one crop season for long duration crops,

vi. the amount of liquidity facility remains outstanding for more than 90 days, in respect of a
securitisation transaction undertaken in terms of guidelines on securitisation

Banks should, classify an account as NPA only if the interest due and charged during any quarter is
not serviced fully within 90 days .

Status of Out of Order - An account should be treated as 'out of order' if the outstanding balance
remains continuously in excess of the sanctioned limit/drawing power. In cases where the
outstanding balance in the principal operating account is less than the sanctioned limit/drawing
power, but there are no credits continuously for 90 days as on the date of Balance Sheet or credits
are not enough to cover the interest debited during the same period, these accounts should be
treated as 'out of order'.

TYPES OF NPA:

1. Gross NPA

2. Net NPA
1 Gross NPA: Gross NPAs are the sum total of all loan assets that are classified as NPAs as per RBI
guidelines as on Balance Sheet date. Gross NPA reflects the real NPAS and the quality of the loans
made by banks. It consists of all the nonstandard assets like as sub-standard, doubtful, and loss
assets. It can be calculated with the help of following ratio:

Gross NPAs Ratio = Gross NPAs /Gross Advances

2. Net NPA: Net NPAs are those type of NPAs in which the bank has deducted the provision
regarding NPAs. Net NPA is obtained by reducing the provisions from Gross NPAs and shows the
actual burden of banks. Since in India, bank balance sheets contain a huge amount of NPAs and the
process of recovery and write off of loans is very time consuming, the provisions the banks have to
make against the NPAs according to the central bank guidelines, are quite significant. That is why the
difference between gross and net NPA is quite high. It can be calculated by following:

Net NPAs = Gross NPAs – Provisions on Gross Advances

ASSET CLASSIFICATION

Categories of NPAs Banks are required to classify nonperforming assets further into the following
three categories based on the period for which the asset has remained nonperforming and the
realisability of the dues:

 Substandard Assets
 Doubtful Assets
 Loss Assets

Substandard Assets With effect from 31 March 2005, a substandard asset would be one, which has
remained NPA for a period less than or equal to 12 months. In such cases, the current net worth of
the borrower/ guarantor or the current market value of the security charged is not enough to ensure
recovery of the dues to the banks in full. In other words, such an asset will have well defined credit
weaknesses that jeopardise the liquidation of the debt and are characterised by the distinct
possibility that the banks will sustain some loss, if deficiencies are not corrected.

Doubtful Assets With effect from March 31, 2005, an asset would be classified as doubtful if it has
remained in the substandard category for a period of 12 months. A loan classified as doubtful has all
the weaknesses inherent in assets that were classified as substandard, with the added characteristic
that the weaknesses make collection or liquidation in full, – on the basis of currently known facts,
conditions and values – highly questionable and improbable.

Loss Assets A loss asset is one where loss has been identified by the bank or internal or external
auditors or the RBI inspection but the amount has not been written off wholly. In other words, such
an asset is considered uncollectible and of such little value that its continuance as a bankable asset is
not warranted although there may be some salvage or recovery value.

BASEL NORMS

Introduction
Basel is a city in Switzerland which is also the headquarters of Bureau of International
Settlement (BIS).

 BIS fosters co-operation among central banks with a common goal of financial stability
and common standards of banking regulations.
 The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) established on 17 May 1930, is the world's
oldest international financial organisation. There are two representative offices in the
Hong Kong and in Mexico City. In total BIS has 60 member countries from all over the
world and covers approx 95% of the world GDP.
Objective
 The set of the agreement by the BCBS (BASEL COMMITTEE ON BANKING
SUPERVISION), which mainly focuses on risks to banks and the financial system are
called Basel accord.
 The purpose of the accord is to ensure that financial institutions have enough capital on
account to meet the obligations and absorb unexpected losses.
 India has accepted Basel accords for the banking system.
 BASEL ACCORD has given us three BASEL NORMS which are BASEL 1,2 and 3.
Before coming to that we have to understand following terms-

 CAR/CRAR- Capital Adequacy Ratio/ Capital to Risk Weighted Asset Ratio

 RWA- Risk Weighted Assets
⇒Formulae for CAR=Total Capital/RWA*100

⇒ Now here, Total Capital= Tier1+ Tier2 capital

Tier 1 - The Tier- I Capital is the core capital

Paid up Capital, Statutory Reserves, Other disclosed free reserves, Capital Reserves which
represent surplus arising out of the sale proceeds of the assets, other intangible assets belong
from the category of Tier1 capital.

Tier 2 - Tier-II capital can be said to be subordinate capitals.

Undisclosed reserves, Revaluation Reserves, General Provisions and loss reserves , Hybrid
debt capital instruments such as bonds, Long term unsecured loans, Debt Capital Instruments
etc belong from the category of Tier 2 capital.

Risk Weighted Assets

RWA means assets with different risk profiles; it means that we all know that is much larger
risk in personal loans in comparison to the housing loan, so with different types of loans the
risk percentage on these loans also varies.

BASEL-I
 In 1988, The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) introduced capital
measurement system called Basel capital accord, also called as Basel 1.
 It focused almost entirely on credit risk, It defined capital and structure of risk weights
for banks.
 The minimum capital requirement was fixed at 8% of risk-weighted assets (RWA).
 India adopted Basel 1 guidelines in 1999.

BASEL-II
In 2004, Basel II guidelines were published by BCBS, which were considered to be the
refined and reformed versions of Basel I accord.
The guidelines were based on three parameters which are as follows
 Banks should maintain a minimum capital adequacy requirement of 8% of risk assets.
 Banks were needed to develop and use better risk management techniques in monitoring
and managing all the three types of risks that is credit and increased disclosure
requirements.
 The three types of risk are- operational risk, market risk, capital risk.
 Banks need to mandatory disclose their risk exposure, etc to the central bank.
 Basel II norms in India and overseas are yet to be fully implemented.

The three pillars of BASEL-3 can be understood from the following figure

BASEL-3
Basel III
 In 2010, Basel III guidelines were released. These guidelines were introduced in response
to the financial crisis of 2008.
 In 2008, Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008, the need for a fundamental
strengthening of the Basel II framework had become apparent.
 Basel III norms aim at making most banking activities such as their trading book activities
more capital-intensive.
 The guidelines aim to promote a more resilient banking system by focusing on four vital
banking parameters viz. capital, leverage, funding and liquidity.
 Presently Indian banking system follows Basel II norms.
 The Reserve Bank of India has extended the timeline for full implementation of the Basel
III capital regulations by a year to March 31, 2019.