Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday asked public and private banks in the country to implement resolution plans for businesses hit by the COVID-19 pandemic by 15 September.
"Resolution schemes must be rolled out by lenders by 15 September 2020, and a sustained media campaign to create awareness be carried out thereafter," Sitharaman was quoted as saying in a statement issued after a review meeting held with banks.
The framework under which a resolution on corporate loans impacted by COVID-19 will be drafted is being worked out by a panel headed by the country's top banker K. V. Kamath, who served as chief of ICICI Bank.
Kamath's panel will submit the framework by 6 September to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The RBI, the nation's central bank, earlier estimated that bad debt in the country's banking system may rise to 14.5 percent by March 2021 due to the pandemic, compared with 8.5 percent in March 2020.
