February 2: The non-performing loans (NPL) of more than a dozen commercial banks have increased in the second quarter of the current fiscal year.

Out of the 27 commercial banks, 14 have stated that the nonperforming loans in the second quarter of the current fiscal year have increased compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year. Other 12 commercial banks have reported that their NPL is under control while Century Commercial Bank has reported NPL equal to that of the previous year. In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, 18 commercial banks had reported increase in NPL.

The state-owned Rastriya Banijya Bank has the highest amount of NPL among all commercial banks this year. The bank’s NPL was 4.23 percent in  the second quarter of the current FY, which is still better than 4.77 percent during the corresponding period of last fiscal year. Rastriya Banijya Bank has stated that it is facing problem in collecting installments of loan due to the impact of Covid-19. Other two state-owned banks – Agriculture Development Bank and Nepal Bank Limited – stand second and third among the commercial banks with high non-performing loans.  The non-performing loan of Agriculture Development Bank was 3.14 percent during the review period while that of Nepal Bank Limited was 2.88 percent.

Citizen’s Bank has reported a rise in NPL this year compared to last year. The bank’s NPL during the review period was 2.42 percent against 0.99 percent last year. Similarly, Standard Chartered Bank also reported an increase in NPL from 0.17 percent last year to 1.54 percent this year.

The NPL of other commercial banks during the review period are as follows: NMB Bank (2.38 percent), Nepal Bangladesh Bank (2.37 percent), Himalayan Bank (2.13 percent), Siddhartha Bank (1.91 percent), Global IME Bank (1.72 percent), Mega Bank (1.71 percent), and Kumari Bank (1.06 percent).

The financial reports issued by Machhapuchchhre Bank, Sanima Bank, Nepal SBI Bank and Everest Bank also reported increase in NPL below 1 percentage point.