Here’s what the NaMo government is planning under its ‘Digital India’ initiative

Just after exploring new avenues in the digital arena, the Indian government is now set to introduce its property portal. The primary details – floor area, pictures – of around 50,000 residential properties will be initially given to the user via this portal.

The portal will auction the properties that the Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) have allowed banks to sell after their owners defaulted on loan repayment, reported The Economic Times. With the help of the portal, that is yet to go live, buyers will be able to bid directly after depositing the earnest money electronically.

A senior government official, requesting anonymity, said, "We will list all such properties where there are no encumbrances and hold auction for them on an ongoing basis. As of now, we have around 50,000 residential properties which are ready to be auctioned."

While elaborating the need of transparency in auctioning, the official said, "We have earlier received reports that in some cases auctions conducted by DRTs are controlled by certain groups and general public is not able participate in these auctions."

The auction will be managed by MSTC, a public sector trading firm, which has so far e-auctioned commodities and assets varying from human hair from temple town of Tirupati to agriculture commodities and house plots.

The firm also manages the government’s auction of coal blocks, the financial daily reported.

The new portal will remove banks – who advertise the auction after receiving a notice from recovery officer – from the auction process. However, the process will include the bank accounts for loan recovery.

Interestingly, this plan too will ask for the Aadhar and PAN numbers of those looking forward to participate in the auction.

While explaining the proposed process of registration, an official said, "Once you have registered, a one-time pin will be sent to your registered mobile for confirmation." Once registered, user will get all auction-related information on the portal itself.

The officials further informed that in its second round of auction the government might take-up commercial properties as well.

The initiative is made at a time when the central bank has eased the rules for commercial banks to recover bad loans that are weighing heavily on their performances. The non-performing assets of state-run banks were increased to 5.2% of their total outstanding loans at the end of March 2015 from 4.72% a year earlier, according to Reserve Bank of India data.

Many of the debt recovery cases reach DRTs, which are are required to adjudicate on a case within a span of 180 days. Still, many such cases are pending for more than a decade.

According to the data by Ministry of Finance, there were about 59,000 cases pending before the country’s 33 DRTs at the end of 2014. These involved assets worth Rs 3.7 lakh crore.

Annually, DRTs dispose of 11,000 cases covering loans worth Rs 21,000 crore. With new debt-recovery regulations in place, more assets pledged by defaulting borrowers are expected to come to the market.

"Some of these cases have three or four properties which were mortgaged. These include both residential and commercial properties," the official said.
Image: indiatimes