"We have decided to get together and take suitable action against such borrowers" a top UTI official said. UTI is incidentally one of the initiators of this move against industry defaulters.

Confirming this move, chairman of Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), GP Gupta said the heads of the four fis - IDBI, ICICI Ltd, IFCI and UTI--would meet soon in order to sort out their huge base of non-performing assets.

Between the three of these, ICICI, IDBI AND IFCI have NPAs between Rs 15,000 crore-Rs 20,000 crore. Many of the borrowers are common to all the institutions.

While the exact strategy to be adopted was yet to be crystallised, among the options being explored is a collective divestment of the FIs' stake in certain companies which are particularly recalcitrant.

Another option is selling off thedebts through negotiations, to a third party buyer, who is willing to take over the risk.

While the first option to a large degree and the second option to a lesser degree would probably create a market upheaval, an FI source said that they were prepared to take drastic measures now.