Mumbai: The National Asset Reconstruction Company (NAReaCL) has received all approvals to commence operations, and a total of 38 NPA accounts worth Rs 82,845 crore have been identified to be transferred to NARCL initially, State Bank of India Chairman Dinesh Khara said on Friday.

The transfer of 38 stressed accounts will happen in a phased manner, with banks agreeing to transfer 15 NPA accounts worth Rs 50,000 crore in the first phase by March 2022, Khara said.

"In Phase 1, about 15 (stressed) accounts aggregating to Rs 50,000 crore are expected to be transferred to the NARCL. We are trying to have these accounts transferred within this financial year after completing all the required processes." Khara, told reporters.

He said India Debt Resolution Company Ltd (IDRCL), which will manage the stressed assets and engage market professionals and turn around experts, has also received all the requisite regulatory approvals.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Union Budget 2021-22 speech had announced that the government intends to set up a bad bank as part of the resolution of bad loans worth about Rs 2 lakh crore in the banking system.

When asked about the lower stressed asset pool as compared to the initial amount, SBI's Managing Director (stressed assets resolution group) J Swaminathan said Rs 2 lakh crore was the universe that was identified earlier and a few accounts have got resolved during this period of one year. He said the Rs 83,000 crore worth of stressed accounts are where the joint lending forums (JLF) have met and taken a decision to transfer to the NARCI.

"For the remaining accounts, this process is still on in a phased man ner and this will happen over the next year. Currently, the target is to trans fer at least the initial set of 15 ac counts aggregating to Rs 50,000 crore," Swaminathan explained.

Khara said while public sector banks have taken a majority stake in NARCL, IDRCL will be majorly owned by private sector banks, SBI, Union Bank of India and Indian Bank have picked up 18.27 per cent stake each in NARCL. Punjab National Bank has also acquired close to a 12 per cent stake in the bad bank.

He said both the companies have their respective boards in place. While NARCL will be managed by Padma Kumar Nair, IDRCL will be headed by Manish Makharia.

Explaining the arrangement, Khara said that NARCL will acquire and aggregate the identified NPA accounts from the banks, while the IDRCL, under an exclusive arrangement, will handle the debt resolution process. This exclusive arrangement will be as per the scope defined in the debt management agree ment being executed between the two entities, he said.

The arrangement will be on a principal-agent basis and final approval and ownership for the resolution will lie with the NARCL.

Source-PTI