Public sector banks (PSBs) have written off bad loans worth over ₹5.82 lakh crore in the last five financial years, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said PSBs wrote off loans worth ₹91,260 crore in 2024–25, lower than ₹1.15 lakh crore in the previous fiscal. The highest write-off during the period was recorded in 2020–21 at ₹1.33 lakh crore, followed by ₹1.27 lakh crore in 2022–23 and ₹1.16 lakh crore in 2021–22. Over the same five-year period, recoveries from written-off loans stood at ₹1.65 lakh crore — about 28% of the total amount written off. Chaudhary clarified that write-offs, as per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines and bank board-approved policies, do not mean a waiver of the borrower’s liability. “Borrowers remain liable for repayment, and banks continue to pursue recovery actions,” he said. Recovery efforts, he added, include proceedings in civil courts, Debts Recovery Tribunals, and the National Company Law Tribunal under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, among other mechanisms. Responding to another query, the minister said more than ₹21.68 lakh crore has been disbursed under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) nationwide over the past five years. He also informed that, according to provisional RBI data for 2024–25, scheduled commercial banks recovered ₹32,466 crore through action taken in 2,15,709 cases under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act.