Significant part of bank NPAs are fraud: CAG

New Delhi, July 1  A "significant" part of the banks' non performing assets (NPAs) were a result of loans obtained by fraudulent methods, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, Shashi Kant Sharma said here on Friday.

"There is a significant part of NPAs that amounts to fraudulently obtained advances," Sharma said at the Assocham (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) conference on financial and corporate frauds.

Sharma also added that a large part of these loans may now be irretrievable as they are likely to have been transferred abroad.

"There is also the belief that a large part of these advances may have been transferred abroad and may never be recovered," he said.