The second largest public sector bank in the country, Punjab National Bank has made a record this time but on a dubitable aspect. The bank has booked the fastest growth in non performing assets (NPAs) among all public sector banks.

The bad loans of the bank incremented three fold to reach a figure of Rs. 842 crore. PNB has been followed by other public sector entities namely Union Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Bank of India, Vijaya Bank and Canara Bank. This data has been furnished by a Standing Committee of Finance in the Parliament.

However, there are names which have managed to reduce their net NPAs in the nine month period. These banks are Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank, Central Bank of India, UCO Bank and, State Bank of Hyderabad.

NPAs are a reflection of the performance of the banks. A larger level of NPA loans is an indicative of an ailing banking sector.

The Government says that banks like PNB and some other state owned entities suffered from larger NPA levels due to major factors like economic meltdown, monsoons in the country and bird flu.

"Each bank board has to look into these assets (NPAs) which are going bad and see what better monitoring can be done to see that these accounts are nursed and brought back to proper health," Finance Ministry told the Committee.

Data reveal that the net NPAs of Union Bank of India have taken a riset to Rs. 573 crore from Rs. 193 crore last year. The net NPAs of Corporation Bank have increased to to Rs 266 crore from Rs 144 crore during the nine-month period.

Canara Bank has reported a rise in net NPAs from Rs. 1350 crore last year to Rs. 1, 721 crore. Bank of India has booked bad loans stood at Rs. 1, 457 crore as compared to Rs. 834 crore last year.

The net NPAs of 27 PSUs which included six associate banks of SBI increased to Rs. 25,610 crore at the end of December 2009 compared to Rs 20,801 crore in March 2009.