Banks have declared a total of 1,600 wilful defaulters (non-suit filed accounts) of Rs 25 lakh and above as on March 31, 2014. Prominent among the list of wilful defaulter were Kingfisher Airlines, Winsome Diamonds and so on.

A robust mechanism for early detection of signs of distress, prompt restructuring in the case of all viable accounts, taking recourse to legal mechanisms like Lok Adalats were the methods used for recovery of loans.

RBI has issued instructions to banks to review slippages in asset classification in the borrower accounts with outstanding Rs 5 crore and above by the board of directors of the bank and review NPA accounts which have registered recoveries of Rs 1 crore and above, he said.

The government has also advised public sector banks to constitute a board level committee for monitoring of NPAs and recovery.

Recognising the importance of capital need in the light of Basel III implementation, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his first Budget speech had said that there is a requirement to infuse Rs 2.40 lakh crore as equity by 2018 in our banks.

"To meet this huge capital requirement we need to raise additional resources to fulfil this obligation," he said.

While preserving the public ownership, the capital of these banks will be raised through sale of shares, including to the retail investors.

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