State Bank of India (SBI) recovered around Rs 1 lakh crore less than the amount it had claimed in loans resolved through the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and similar forums over nine years, according to an RTI response cited in a Moneylife report.
The data, obtained through an RTI application filed by Pune-based activist Vivek Velankar, shows that SBI had taken 309 loan accounts to the NCLT or similar resolution forums between FY2017-18 and FY2025-26. The total claims in these cases stood at Rs 1,49,895 crore, while the bank recovered Rs 49,727 crore through resolution plans.
This translates into a haircut of Rs 1,00,168 crore, or roughly 67% of the total claims, according to the figures reported by Moneylife.
The figures mean that, across the 309 accounts covered by the data, SBI recovered around one-third of the amount it had claimed through the resolution process.
The remaining amount represents the difference between the claims admitted or pursued by the bank and what was ultimately recovered through the resolution plans.
The data provides a broad picture of how much lenders can potentially forgo when loans are resolved through insolvency proceedings. However, the figures relate to multiple accounts over several years and should not be treated as representative of every individual NCLT case.
The report also highlights a separate set of figures relating to loans technically or prudentially written off by SBI.
Between FY2016-17 and FY2025-26, SBI technically or prudentially wrote off Rs 1,51,857 crore in loans involving large borrowers who owed more than Rs 100 crore, according to the RTI response cited in the report.
Against these write-offs, the bank had recovered Rs 20,838 crore, or around 14%, according to the data.
The two figures — NCLT haircuts and loan write-offs — represent different categories and should not be conflated.
A haircut in a resolution process refers to the difference between the amount claimed by a creditor and the amount recovered under the approved resolution plan. A technical or prudential write-off, meanwhile, concerns how a bank accounts for loans it does not expect to recover and does not by itself mean that the borrower has been legally released from the obligation.
The data cited by Moneylife shows that SBI’s write-offs of loans involving borrowers with dues above Rs 100 crore were particularly high in FY2019-20.
In that financial year, the bank technically or prudentially wrote off Rs 46,348 crore. Against this, it recovered Rs 4,548 crore, according to the RTI response.
The recovery picture was markedly different in FY2025-26. SBI wrote off Rs 2,690 crore in this category and recovered Rs 2,677 crore.
The data therefore shows significant variation in the amount written off and subsequently recovered across different financial years.
The RTI response also contains figures for borrowers whose outstanding loans were below Rs 1 crore.
According to the Moneylife report, SBI wrote off Rs 63,103 crore involving such borrowers over the decade from FY2016-17 to FY2025-26.
The bank recovered Rs 6,815 crore against these write-offs, equivalent to around 11% of the amount written off.
The figures for borrowers below Rs 1 crore and those above Rs 100 crore are presented separately in the report and therefore should not be directly compared as identical categories of lending.
The RTI application also sought information on the borrowers behind these figures.
According to Moneylife, Velankar asked SBI for the names of borrowers whose loans above Rs 100 crore had been written off, as well as the names of borrowers whose loans were settled through NCLT proceedings involving haircuts.
SBI did not provide the names.
The bank cited exemptions under Sections 8(1)(d), 8(1)(e) and 8(1)(j) of the Right to Information Act. The reasons cited included commercial confidence, information held in a fiduciary capacity and personal information.
One of the issues highlighted by the Moneylife report is that SBI had provided such information to the same applicant in 2020.
The latest RTI response, however, declined to disclose the names, citing the exemptions under the RTI Act.
This change in the bank’s response is a central point raised in the report. Velankar has questioned the refusal and argued for greater transparency around loan write-offs and NCLT settlements.
His views and criticism are his own and are reported as such; the RTI response itself provides SBI’s reasons for withholding the information.
Taken together, the figures cited in the report highlight two different aspects of stressed-loan resolution at SBI.
On NCLT and similar resolution forums, SBI had claims of Rs 1,49,895 crore across 309 accounts and recovered Rs 49,727 crore, resulting in a reported haircut of Rs 1,00,168 crore.
Separately, for borrowers owing more than Rs 100 crore, SBI technically or prudentially wrote off Rs 1,51,857 crore over the same broad period, against which Rs 20,838 crore has been recovered.
These numbers cover different processes and periods, and therefore cannot simply be added together to arrive at one measure of SBI’s total losses or recoveries.
The data nevertheless illustrates the scale of the recovery challenge faced by banks when loans turn sour and are subsequently resolved or written off.