Moneylife: National: Thursday, 20 August 2026.
State-run Bank of Baroda
(BoB) has written off loans worth ₹35,715 crore belonging to borrowers with
outstanding loans of ₹100 crore and above over the six financial years from
FY20-21 to FY25-26, while cumulative recovery of less than 28% from these accounts
is at ₹9,946 crore. However, BoB yet again refused to disclose the names of the
large borrowers whose loans were technically written off or whose accounts were
settled after haircuts, citing exemptions under the RTI Act.
The figures, disclosed by
the bank in response to an RTI application filed by Pune-based activist Vivek
Velankar, also show that Bank of Baroda reported ₹7,817 crore as the amount
written off as a haircut while settling loans of borrowers with dues above ₹100
crore from FY20-21 to FY25-26.
₹35,715 Crore Written Off
BoB's RTI reply, dated 30
July 2026, was issued in response to Mr Velankar's application dated 21 June
2026. The bank provided year-wise figures for write-offs involving loan
accounts of ₹100 crore and above.
BoB reported the following
technical write-offs:
The largest write-offs
were recorded in FY20-21 and FY21-22, when ₹11,916 crore and ₹11,261 crore,
respectively, were technically written off.
The bank's reply
specifically describes the figures as 'technical write-off', meaning the
amounts have been written off from the bank's books for accounting purposes. A
technical write-off does not by itself mean that the bank has stopped pursuing
recovery.
Only ₹9,946 Crore
Recovered
Despite the ₹35,715 crore
in technical write-offs involving accounts above ₹100 crore, BoB disclosed
cumulative recovery of ₹9,946 crore from such accounts.
The year-wise recovery
figures supplied by the bank are:
The cumulative recovery is
equivalent to about 28% of the ₹35,715 crore technically written off over the
period covered by the figures.
Mr Velankar said the
numbers were particularly concerning because the loans involved borrowers with
dues of more than ₹100 crore.
"The reply I received
has been deeply shocking," he said, pointing out that Bank of Baroda had
written off ₹35,715 crore in loans involving large borrowers while recovering
only ₹9,946 crore.
₹7,817 Crore Haircut in
Settlements
The RTI application also
sought details of large loan accounts settled through the national company law
tribunal (NCLT) or other forums after accepting a haircut, including the loan
amount and the haircut agreed to settle the loans.
In response, BoB declined
to provide borrower-wise information, but disclosed an aggregate figure for the
period from FY20-21 to FY25-26.
According to the reply,
the amount of haircut described by the bank as the write-off amount taken by
the bank to settle loans involving technically written-off accounts above ₹100
crore is:
The highest amount was
recorded in FY21-22 at ₹3,132 crore, followed by ₹2,331 crore in FY20-21 and
₹1,831 crore in FY22-23.
Mr Velankar said this
meant Bank of Baroda had effectively forgone thousands of crores while settling
large loan accounts.
"It must be noted
that these cases were filed before the NCLT precisely to recover money from
wilful defaulters. The bank ultimately had to waive thousands of crores in the
process and yet it continues to shield the identities of these very
defaulters," he said.
Bank Refuses to Disclose
Names
The most contentious
aspect of the RTI reply is the Bank of Baroda's refusal to provide the names of
the borrowers.
Mr Velankar had
specifically sought the names of loan takers whose loans above ₹100 crore were
technically written off during the relevant financial years, along with the
amount written off.
Bank of Baroda rejected
the request, saying the information was personal in nature and related to
third-party information and that disclosure would cause an unwarranted invasion
of privacy. It cited Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005.
For the request concerning
borrowers whose loans were settled through NCLT or similar forums by accepting
haircuts, the bank again refused borrower-wise details, citing exemptions under
Sections 8(1)(d), 8(1)(e) and 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act.
Thus, while the bank
disclosed the aggregate figures, it did not provide the names of the borrowers
or account-wise details that would identify the cases behind the ₹35,715 crore
technical write-offs and ₹7,817 crore haircut figure.
Data Begins from FY20-21
despite Wider RTI Query
The RTI application sought
information covering a longer period. However, the bank's disclosed year-wise
figures for technical write-offs, recoveries and haircuts begin from FY20-21.
For the technical
write-off and recovery queries, BoB said the information sought is not readily
available in the requested form and that compiling and collating it would
disproportionately divert resources under Section 7(9) of the RTI Act.
It nevertheless provided
the aggregate and year-wise figures available for accounts of ₹100 crore and
above from FY20-21 onwards.
Similarly, for the
haircut-related query, the bank provided figures from FY20-21 to FY25-26 rather
than borrower-wise information for the entire period sought.
Questions over
Accountability
Mr Velankar has questioned
why large borrowers whose accounts result in substantial losses for banks
should remain unidentified while small borrowers often face public recovery
action.
"Banks that are quick
to publicly shame small borrowers publishing their names and addresses in
newspapers and auctioning their homes and properties to recover relatively
modest sums adopt a soft, accommodating stance when it comes to large
borrowers," he said.
He also questioned
the absence of accountability for those responsible for sanctioning and
managing the large loans.
"What makes
this even more troubling is that the board of directors responsible for
sanctioning these large loans so recklessly in the first place, for failing to
recover them after write-off, and for settling cases by foregoing thousands of
crores through haircuts, faces absolutely no accountability or action
whatsoever," Mr Velankar, who is also president of Sajag Nagrik Manch,
said.
The RTI response,
however, does not provide information establishing whether any particular loan
was sanctioned recklessly, whether a borrower was a wilful defaulter, or
whether any bank official or director faced disciplinary or legal action. Those
aspects therefore cannot be inferred from the figures disclosed in the reply.
The figures
nevertheless highlight the scale of loan losses involving large borrower
accounts at Bank of Baroda. Against ₹35,715 crore in technical write-offs
reported for accounts above ₹100 crore between FY20-21 and FY25-26, the bank
disclosed recovery of ₹9,946 crore, while separately reporting ₹7,817 crore in
write-offs/haircuts associated with settlement of such accounts.
A 12-year legal battle by
Md Rizwan of Siwan has culminated in a landmark Patna high court verdict
holding that torn or missing public records cannot be a ground for officials to
refuse information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.
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