Managing director of the bank, SR Iyer, said more relationship managers will be appointed who will have the task of continuously monitoring the accounts and giving appropriate feedback to the bank's management.

At present SBI has put in place relationship management for its corporate accounts group which consists of its top notch clients. "We will extend it to our other borrowers too", Iyer said.

This move, he explained would contribute towards containing fresh accretions to its existing portfolio of non-performing assets.

Iyer was speaking at a seminar on non-performing assets management organised by Indian merchants chamber, on Friday.

On the fear psychosis among bank officers where they prefer not to take credit decisions on the plea of being held accountable in case the decision turns out to be bad, Iyer said the State Bank of India along with other banks would hold banking personnel accountable for non-performance.

Accountability for credit decisions cannot be an excuse for non-performance, he said.

SBI in an effort to solve the npa problem has set up a system of credit audits whereby large value advances are subjected to a thorough scrutiny right from its inception to its status at the moment.

If the account shows any indications of becoming bad, the dealing officer is made aware of it and let off with a light warning.