ED declares 9 defaulters as fugitive economic offenders: MoS Finance

New Delhi: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has declared nine defaulters as Fugitive Economic Offenders, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed Parliament on Tuesday. The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA) has been enacted for the attachment and confiscation of property of a fugitive economic offender, he said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. Further, he said, in the case of the accused who fled abroad, the ED has declared nine of them as Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEO) under the provisions of FEOA. "Also, 25 extradition requests have also been sent, in respect of 16 accused who fled abroad. In addition to this, assets amounting to Rs 725.90 crore have been confiscated under the provisions of FEOA," he said.

About bad loans, he said, Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) have made an aggregate recovery of Rs 6,82,328 crore in NPA accounts, including written-off loans, during the last five financial years. The gross NPA ratio of SCBs has declined to 2.75 per cent as of March 31, 2024 (as per RBI provisional data) from a peak of 11.18 as of March 31, 2018. Replying to another question, Chaudhary said debt write-offs by public sector banks have declined to Rs 1.14 lakh crore in 2023-24 compared to Rs 1.18 lakh crore in the previous year. The number of frauds (Rs 1 lakh and above), the amount involved, and the amount recovered, as reported by the banks under the category 'Credit Cards, ATM / Debit Cards and Internet Banking' has increased nearly five times to 29,082 involving an amount of Rs 1,457 crore, Chaudhary said in another reply. As against this, he said, the number of such incidences was 6,699 involving an amount of Rs 277 crore.