Mumbai, July 28 -- Indian banks continued to experience stress in their unsecured loan books in the first quarter of the current financial year, with select lenders and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) flagging higher bad debt in new segments such as credit for small businesses and retail commercial vehicles.

Notably, the pockets of unsecured stress were seen in various segments such as microfinance, retail commercial vehicle, MSME (micro, small, and medium enterprises) and personal loans and credit cards, according to bankers' post-earnings analyst calls in recent days.

Add to that the cyclical impact of higher farm loan slippages, and most lenders saw elevated provisions for potential loan losses and credit cost weighing on the...