Loans to pharma companies turn bitter pill for banks

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/loans-to-pharma-companies-turn-bitter-pill-for-banks/483322/

Loans to mid-sized pharmaceutical companies have turned bad for a slew of top public sector banks in the first quarter of this financial year. Some of the large lenders are set to restructure some of these, to avoid more slippage.

North India-based Surya Pharmaceutical Ltd, flagship company of the Rs 1,700-crore Surya Corp, defaulted to State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce in the quarter.

While SBI had an exposure of Rs 460 crore, the total in this account that has become a non-performing asset (NPA) is close to Rs 1,000 crore.

In the quarter ended June, SBI saw fresh slippage to the tune of Rs 11,000 crore and closed the quarter with an NPA ratio of 4.99 per cent of gross advances.

It has pointed to three accounts, one each in the power, road sector and pharmaceutical sectors, as having contributed significantly to its deteriorating asset quality.

SBI says the power and road sector accounts have a chance of getting upgraded once environmental clearances are in place but they are not sure about the pharma company's turnaround.

Loans to another firm, Orchid Pharmaceutical and Chemicals, also become an NPA for Union Bank of India and Andhra Bank. These banks have an exposure of around Rs 500 crore in all.

While SBI loans to Orchid Chem did not slip to the NPA category in the first quarter, sources indicate the lender might restructure these loans to avoid fresh slippage.

SBI’s total exposure to Orchid is Rs 750 crore, including a foreign currency loan.

A loan, if restructured while the asset is classified as standard, can remain in the latter category but the provisioning requirement rises from 0.4 per cent to two per cent. However, if an NPA is restructured, the asset needs to be further downgraded and provisioning requirements increase sharply.