Banks plan to e-auction cars, vehicles on BAANKNET to speed up recoveries

New Delhi: Banks plan to auction cars and other vehicles on the e-auction and property listing platform Bank Asset Auction Network (BAANKNET) to streamline the process, enhance transparency and speed up recoveries.

“We are looking to develop BAANKNET as a scalable platform where more products can be onboarded. The auction of cars and other vehicles through this portal is being examined, and we do see this as an opportunity for all banks for faster and more effective auctions of vehicles,” chairman Sunil Mehta said.

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PSB Alliance, which operates BAANKNET, has already conducted more than 87,000 property auctions through this platform, designed specifically for banks and lending institutions to help the recovery of non-performing assets.

The platform will be integrated with the road transport ministry’s VAHAN portal and RTO challan services to provide complete vehicle information with options for brand, model, location and other key parameters to improve bidder participation.

As per the latest data available, through BAANKNET, lenders have recovered around ₹34,000 crore against ₹72,000 crore worth of properties auctioned since July 2024.

Earlier this year, the asked PSB Alliance to expand its shared service ecosystem beyond state-run banks. It further recommended that the joint venture of public sector banks look to provide common to smaller banks, helping them save overhead costs.

Set up by state-run banks, PSB Alliance Pvt Ltd acts as an intermediary for all public sector banks and creates common applications or platforms. The other platforms being developed by the firm include the Digital Balance Confirmation Portal, Digital Supply Chain Finance and a common collection platform to recover retail and MSME loans below ₹5 crore.

Last month, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the PSB Confluence said the banking sector was in its strongest position to undertake reforms and that the government would soon announce a High-Level Committee on Banking for Viksit Bharat. Financial services secretary Sanjay Lohia asked PSBs at the meeting to leverage their collective experience to support the next phase of economic growth.

Public sector banks posted a net profit of ₹1.98 lakh crore for FY26, an all-time high, backed by improved asset quality, healthy credit expansion and higher income during the fiscal year. This is the fourth straight year of profitability for PSBs.

The government has asked PSBs to collaborate, scale up common utilities and initiatives, and start peer-to-peer collaboration by building and sharing technology, operations and people capabilities.