September 8: The number of people in the blacklist of banks and financial institutions has increased significantly in the last fiscal year. According to data provided by Nepal Rastra Bank, the number of defaulters in FY 2018/19 increased by cent percent to 2842 as compared to the previous FY. The number of defaulters in FY 2017/18 was 1335.

The Credit Information Bureau blacklists defaulters who owe more than Rs 1 million to BFIs upon the recommendation of the concerned banks.

The defaulters are not provided any additional loan unless they get delisted from the blacklist.

According to the Credit Information Bureau, majority of the defaulters during the review period are those who took loan from BFIs to establish companies but failed to pay the loan.

It is believed that the bad debt of BFIs has increased with the rise in the number of defaulters. However, the non performing loans of commercial banks during last FY stood at 1.35 percent, which is less than the previous FY. The non performing loans of BFIs during the previous FY were 1.45 percent.

Rastriya Banijya Bank tops the list of banks providing non performing loan. The bad loan of this bank was 3.9 percent.

According to Loan Department chief Gayatri Shrestha of Rastriya Banijya Bank, the list of defaulters includes those who haven’t paid loan between Rs 1 million to Rs 200 million.

“We have made repeated attempts to recover the loan but in vain. Many of the borrowers are out of contact. We have announced to auction their properties. This has helped us in getting in touch with some of the defaulters,” said Shrestha, who added that some of them have demanded more time while others have paid half of the loan.

At one point of time, Rastriya Banijya Bank’s non performing loan was 60 percent and the bank was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, Nepal Bank’s bad loan during FY 2018/19 was 3.37 percent followed by Agriculture Development Bank (2.9 percent). Nepal Investment Bank Limited is also among the banks with high non performing loan at 2.78 percent.

CEO of Agriculture Development Bank Anil Kumar Upadhyay says that some defaulters have been paying their loan but quite late.

“Event though they are paying their loan, they will remain in the blacklist until they clear all their dues,” he added.

Those who are responsible for repeated cheque bounce cases are also included in the blacklist.

“Customers who do not pay their credit card dues for more than three months are also in the blacklist,” added Upadhyay.