Standard Assets

A standard asset where the terms of the loan agreement regarding interest and principal have been renegotiated or rescheduled after commencement of production should be classified as sub-standard and should remain in such category for at least one year of satisfactory performance under the renegotiated or rescheduled terms. In the case of sub-standard and doubtful assets also, rescheduling does not entitle a bank to upgrade the quality of advance automatically unless there is satisfactory performance under the rescheduled / renegotiated terms. Following representations from banks that the foregoing stipulations deter the banks from restructuring of standard and sub-standard loan assets even though the modification of terms might not jeopardise the assurance of repayment of dues from the borrower, the norms relating to restructuring of standard and sub-standard assets were reviewed in March 2001. In the context of restructuring of the accounts, the following stages at which the restructuring / rescheduling / renegotiation of the terms of loan agreement could take place, can be identified:

1. before commencement of commercial production;

2. after commencement of commercial production but before the asset has been classified as sub standard,

3. after commencement of commercial production and after the asset has been classified as sub standard.

In each of the foregoing three stages, the rescheduling, etc., of principal and/or of interest could take place, with or without sacrifice, as part of the restructuring package evolved.

1. A rescheduling of the instalments of principal alone, at any of the aforesaid first two stages would not cause a standard asset to be classified in the sub standard category provided the loan/credit facility is fully secured.

2. A rescheduling of interest element at any of the foregoing first two stages would not cause an asset to be downgraded to sub standard category subject to the condition that the amount of sacrifice, if any, in the element of interest, measured in present value terms, is either written off or provision is made to the extent of the sacrifice involved. For the purpose, the future interest due as per the original loan agreement in respect of an account should be discounted to the present value at a rate appropriate to the risk category of the borrower (i.e., current PLR+ the appropriate credit risk premium for the borrower-category) and compared with the present value of the dues expected to be received under the restructuring package, discounted on the same basis.

3. In case there is a sacrifice involved in the amount of interest in present value terms, as at (b) above, the amount of sacrifice should either be written off or provision made to the extent of the sacrifice involved.

1. A rescheduling of the instalments of principal alone, would render a sub-standard asset eligible to be continued in the sub-standard category for the specified period, provided the loan/credit facility is fully secured.

2. A rescheduling of interest element would render a sub-standard asset eligible to be continued to be classified in sub standard category for the specified period subject to the condition that the amount of sacrifice, if any, in the element of interest, measured in present value terms, is either written off or provision is made to the extent of the sacrifice involved. For the purpose, the future interest due as per the original loan agreement in respect of an account should be discounted to the present value at a rate appropriate to the risk category of the borrower (i.e., current PLR + the appropriate credit risk premium for the borrower-category) and compared with the present value of the dues expected to be received under the restructuring package, discounted on the same basis.

3. In case there is a sacrifice involved in the amount of interest in present value terms, as at (b) above, the amount of sacrifice should either be written off or provision made to the extent of the sacrifice involved. Even in cases where the sacrifice is by way of write off of the past interest dues, the asset should continue to be treated as sub-standard.

The sub-standard accounts which have been subjected to restructuring etc., whether in respect of principal instalment or interest amount, by whatever modality, would be eligible to be upgraded to the standard category only after the specified period i.e., a period of one year after the date when first payment of interest or of principal, whichever is earlier, falls due, subject to satisfactory performance during the period. The amount of provision made earlier, net of the amount provided for the sacrifice in the interest amount in present value terms as aforesaid, could also be reversed after the one year period. During this one year period, the sub-standard asset will not deteriorate in its classification if satisfactory performance of the account is demonstrated during the period. In case, however, the satisfactory performance during the one year period is not evidenced, the asset classification of the restructured account would be governed as per the applicable prudential norms with reference to the pre-restructuring payment schedule.

1. These instructions would be applicable to all type of credit facilities including working capital limits, extended to industrial units, provided they are fully covered by tangible securities.

2. As trading involves only buying and selling of commodities and the problems associated with manufacturing units such as bottleneck in commercial production, time and cost escalation etc. are not applicable to them, these guidelines should not be applied to restructuring/ rescheduling of credit facilities extended to traders.

3. While assessing the extent of security cover available to the credit facilities, which are being restructured/ rescheduled, collateral security would also be reckoned, provided such collateral is a tangible security properly charged to the bank and is not in the intangible form like guarantee etc. of the promoter/ others.