7686 wilful defaulters altogether owe Rs 66,190 crore to public sector banks in India as of December 2015, according to finance minister Jayant Sinha. He said the number of wilful defaulters of PSBs rose from 5554 to 7686 in three years to December 2015 while the amount involved more than doubled to Rs 66,190 crore from Rs 27,749 crore. Sinha said the total outstanding amount in top 100 non-performing accounts with public sector banks was Rs 1.73 lakh crore while the total exposure of top 50 defaulters of PSBs was Rs 1,21,832 crore as of December 2015. He said there were 1365 borrower accounts having outstanding of Rs 500 crore and more at the end of December 2015. Sinha maintained the government has taken specific measures to address issues in sectors such as infrastructure, steel and textiles, where instances of NPAs are high.
