Public sector banks (PSU) may have to bear a burden of Rs 1,800-2,000-Crore arising because of a recent Supreme Court promulgation on the waiver of compound interest on all loan accounts which opted for moratorium during March-August 2020, sources said.

 The judgment covers loans above Rs 2 crore as loans below this got blanket interest on interest waiver in November last year. Compound interest support scheme for loan moratorium cost the government Rs 5,500 crore during 2020-21 and the scheme covered all borrowers including the prompt one who did not avail moratorium.

According to banking sources, initially, 60 percent of borrowers availed moratorium and gradually the percentage came down to 40 percent and even less as collection improved with ease in lockdown. In case of corporate, this was as low as 25 percent as far as public sector banks were concerned. They further said, banks would provide compound interest waiver for the period a borrower had availed moratorium. For example, if a borrower availed moratorium of three months, the waiver would be for that period. The RBI on March 27 last year announced a loan moratorium on payment of installments of term loans falling due between March 1 and May 31, 2020, due to the pandemic, later the same was extended to August 31.

 The Supreme Court court order this time is only limited to those who availed moratorium so the liability of the public sector bank should be less than Rs 2,000 crore as per rough calculations, sources added. Besides, they said, the order does not specify a timeframe for the settlement of compound interest unlike last time so banks can devise a mechanism of adjusting or settling it in a staggered manner.

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