BAANKNET, a revamped e-auction portal for properties with public sector banks launched by DFS secretary M Nagaraju

The government on Friday launched a revamped e-auction portal ‘Baanknet’ that consolidates information on all properties that put up for e-auction by public sector banks (PSBs).

The portal is a one-stop destination for buyers and investor offering a wide range of properties.

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The portal was launched by M. Nagaraju, secretary, department of financial services, ministry of finance, in the presence of chairpersons of the debt recovery appellate tribunals, presiding officers of debt recovery tribunals, managing directors and chief executive officers (CEOs) of PSBs, the deputy CEO of the Indian Bank Association, senior executives of PSB Alliance Ltd and senior officers of the department of financial services (DFS).

The listings on the new platform include residential properties such as flats, independent houses and open plots, as well as commercial properties, industrial land and buildings, shops, vehicles, plant and machinery, agricultural and non-agricultural land.

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Simplifies Process

By gathering all these details in one place, the portal simplifies the process of finding and participating in property e-auctions, making it easier for buyers and investors to identify valuable opportunities.

Nagaraju emphasized that the introduction of this platform would significantly aid the recovery process of PSBs, thereby improving the balance sheets of banks and enhancing credit availability to businesses and individuals.

He underlined the critical role played by PSBs, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) and debt recovery tribunals (DRTs) in this initiative, saying their collaboration is key to the platform’s success.

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“This platform is expected to enhance the overall economic environment by unlocking the value of distressed assets and boosting investor confidence. With the use of technology, this process will be more transparent, efficient, and accessible,” Nagaraju said.

The new portal is equipped with improved and enhanced features including frictionless user journeys where the portal will have the entire pre-auction, auction, and post-auction journeys in a single application. It will also have automated and integrated payment gateway and KYC (know-your-customer) tools, a microservices-based architecture with open APIs (application programming interfaces) for third-party integration, a dashboard feature for spend analytics and various management information system reports in a click, a dedicated helpdesk and a call centre facility with callback request facility for customers.

The DFS has already provided training on features of the Baanknet portal to executives of all PSBs and to all recovery officers in DRTs to ensure effective and efficient utilization of the portal. Further, over 122,500 properties have already been migrated to the new portal for auction.