Gross non-performing assets

Loans on which the borrower has stopped paying, as a percentage of the total loan book, before deducting any provision the bank has made against them.

If ₹1,260 crore of a ₹42,000 crore book has gone bad, the bank reports a gross figure of 3%.

Indian classification follows a defined progression. An account overdue beyond ninety days becomes non-performing, and it then moves through sub-standard, doubtful and loss categories as time passes, with higher provisioning required at each step.

Below 3% is generally considered healthy for an Indian bank. Direction matters more than level, because recognition of a bad loan lags the borrower's deterioration and a rising number means the earlier optimism is being corrected.

Read it beside slippages. They lead it.

Ninety days. That's the line.

Classification also drives the provisioning, and provisioning is what connects asset quality to reported profit. A sub-standard account requires a lower provision than a doubtful one, and a doubtful account's requirement rises the longer it stays there, so a bank that isn't recovering or writing off its old bad loans faces a rising provision charge from accounts that turned bad years ago. So the ageing of the bad-loan book matters as much as its size, and a bank with a stable gross figure can still see credit costs climb.