MUMBAI: NewsX has launched India's biggest investigation into Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) by kicking off a 100-day campaign to help strengthen India's financial backbone by weeding out non-performing assets that are weighing down on banks.

The channel is committed to dig out details of such assets every day for the next 100 days to enable the country to get a comprehensive picture on what is a pressing national issue involving crores of rupees. In fact, India's total NPAs amount to over Rs 8 lakh crores, which roughly translates to INR 6,400 for every man, woman and child in the country.

NewsX has based its campaign on its access to an exhaustive list of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) of 2016. The list is over 200 pages long and contains names, addresses and loan amounts of 1,406 companies involving thousands of crores of rupees, which were given by banks and never recovered.

Based on this list, NewsX has started a detailed investigation made possible by a special team.  The team launched systematic checks on addresses corresponding to firms mentioned in the list and unearthed a web of fake addresses, empty buildings and closed shops with locals confirming they were not aware such companies even existed. NewsX also tried contacting banks that have been ‘duped’ by defaulters in the NPAs list; however, there has been no response on this from the banks.

The investigation so far has been as riveting as it is serious. Reiterating India's commitment to clean up the system, NewsX seeks to turn this campaign into every Indian's fight against corruption. The channel has appealed to all Indians to join its mission to purge the country’s economy by launching a collective effort to force banks to break their lethargy and make aggressive attempts to recover such dues.

NewsX hopes the campaign will be a reason for employees, bankers and chartered accountants to expose anomalies in systems, emphasising on the protection entitled to them under the Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2011.

The campaign also seeks support from every Indian to contribute towards creating a system that will not allow defaulters to go unchallenged for long time lengths that allow them to maintain lavish lifestyles on money put into banks as savings and pensions.

Voice your opinion on the campaign using the following hashtag: #NPAFilesonNewsX