In absolute terms, the NPA due to the industry has more than doubled from Rs 314 crore to Rs 829 crore. In percentage terms, it has gone up from 3.14 per cent to 8.29 per cent.

The top 10 industries from which ICICI has accumulated the maximum net NPAs include: Chemical and chemical products, metal and metal products, man-made fibers, textiles, electronics, food products, cement, services, machinery, and electrical equipment.

In percentage terms, ICICI's share of bad debts on account of cement (5.1--1997-98,3.6--1998-99), services (4.2,2.6) man-made fibers (17.2,13.1), textiles (10.9, 9.9), electronics (7,6.2) has come down in 1998-99.

The metal and metal products sector has accounted for 18.4 per cent of net NPAs worth Rs 666 crore. In 1997-98, the sector hadcontributed 13.3 per cent of net NPAs worth Rs 373 crore.

ICICI's net NPA ratio has gone up from 7.6 per cent to 7.8 per cent, adding Rs 812 crore of NPAs during the year.

While announcing the financial performance of 1998-99, ICICI managing director and chief executive officer KV Kamath said that the institution was taking care to consistently improve the quality of assets.

``But there is this macro-economic factor which some times disturbs the overall secnario,'' said Kamath.

There has been a shift in mindset in the criticality of recovery and settlements in respect of NPAs institutionalised across the organisation, Kamath added.

About the increased effectiveness of settlements, Kamath said the present value of settlements for recovery of bad debts had improved from 70 per cent to 76 per cent during the year. In aggregate settlements, it has shot up from Rs 302 crore to Rs 380 crore.

The primary focus of the institution is to do business only with AA/AAA rated clients.

The institution's newprojects in the traditional manufacturing sector are now about 5 per cent of incremental approvals.

ICICI is also opting for an increase in proportion of retail assets and tightly structured projects to mitigate the risk in the projects. The institution is adopting more stringent monitoring measures, including a trust and retention account to control the company's cash flow, and appointing reputed independent engineers for technical monitoring.

ICICI, which has formed a special asset-management group to focus on recovery from large cases under stress, is in favour of a pro-active approach towards identifying early-stage solutions to incipient problems.