MUMBAI, Nov 2: Bank of Baroda (BoB) will hold discussions with each of the corporates which are ``causing concerns'' to it to prevent the account from turning non-performing asset (NPA), said K Kannan, chairman and managing director of the bank. With the economic slowdown during the first half of 1998-99, NPA is definitely `a cause for concern', Kannan said.Corporates in textiles, steel, cement, chemicals and automobiles are showing a trend which has been causing concerns, Kannan told a news conference here today.``We will reschedule interest and instalment so that a deserving corporate does not become NPA,'' he said. BoB is focussing on the potential NPA accounts as well as gearing up the recovery machinery for upgradation of existing NPAs, he said. Kannan said service industry is doing better, but not the manufacturing industry. ``The banks and financial institutions should take a view in a group on troubled corporates so that decisions like whether to continue with or change the management, could betaken,'' he said.In this context, he informed that BoB has set up a committee to go into each account portfolio at regional level and make assessment of the group of industry before extending further finances. The bank has sanctioned Rs 1,300 crore towards infrastructure projects.
