In the financial quarter ending December 2013, the non-performing assets (NPAs) of 40 listed banks, according to a new data, have plummeted to a new low of Rs. 2.4 lakh crore, worsening banks’ financial condition. “This jump of 35.2 percent was much higher than the 27 percent rise witnessed in the first six months of financial year 2013-14,” said the study done by the NPAsource.com, a firm that tracks bad loans of banks.

The web portal also said that 10 out of the 40 listed banks accounted for nearly 70 percent of the total gross NPAs. The largest lender, State Bank of India, with Rs 67,799 crore, has the largest share in the total gross NPAs of ten top listed banks. Only one private sector bank, ICICI, with Rs. 10,399 crore, is listed in the top ten banks while all other are public sector banks. Kolkata-based United Bank of India, which posted 10.89 percent of bad loans, stood tenth in the list.

At 209 percent, Bank of Maharashtra has posted largest increase of NPAs from first quarter ending March to the third financial quarter. “As of December 31, 2013, Bank of Maharashtra NPAs stood at Rs. 3,516 crore from Rs. 1,138 crore as of March 31, 2013,” said the portal.

“There is no respite for banks in India from the onslaught of higher interest rates and slowdown in the Indian economy leading to further increase in loans turning bad from corporate as well as retail segments,” said DK Jain, chairman & managing director of Atishya Group, the owner of portal NPAsource.com. “The high concentration of banks’ debt to the top 50-100 corporates is also a major concern area.”

Aware of the the stressed loans, finance minister P. Chidambaram promised to inject Rs. 112 billion in the public sector banks in his budget speech of February 17. “Bankers have assured me that as the economy turns they will be able to contain the nonperforming assets and recover more loans,” he had said.

The web portal reported a growth of 49 percent of the net NPAs for the nine months ending December 31, 2013 as against a 38 percent rise in the first six months of 2013-14: “Net NPAs have gone up to Rs 1.38 lakh crore as of Q3 end from Rs 93,116 crore at end of March 2013.”