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A new credit analyst sees DPD, SMA-1 and NPA on bureau reports and collections lists and does not know how the days are counted or what each label means.
DPD runs from the due date until the full overdue amount is paid. Under RBI norms, an account is tagged SMA-0 up to 30 days, SMA-1 above 30 and up to 60, SMA-2 above 60 and up to 90, and NPA beyond 90 days overdue, as part of the lender's day-end process.
EMI due date and amount from the loan agreement, payment dates from the loan account or bank statement, and the lender's day-end run date.
A DPD count for each instalment, the SMA or NPA bucket on any date, and the date on which the account would move to the next bucket.
DPD (days past due) counts the days an instalment stays unpaid after its due date. As DPD grows, RBI norms require lenders to tag the account SMA-0 (up to 30 days overdue), SMA-1 (more than 30 and up to 60), SMA-2 (more than 60 and up to 90) and, beyond 90 days, NPA (non-performing asset). SMA stands for special mention account: an early warning that the loan is under stress.
How is DPD counted?
DPD starts from the due date written in the loan agreement. RBI has asked lenders to state exact due dates in loan documents so there is no room for different readings.
Three rules a beginner should know:
- The clock starts at the due date. If the full amount due is not received before the lender runs its day-end process for that date, the account is overdue from that date.
- Part-payment does not reset it. The account stays overdue until the full overdue amount is cleared.
- Tagging happens daily. RBI clarified in 2021 that SMA and NPA status is tagged as part of the day-end process, not only at month-end. The buckets are also continuous, with no gap between them.
What does each bucket tell an analyst?
| DPD | Label | What it usually signals |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Standard, regular | Paid on time |
| 1 to 30 | SMA-0 | Missed or delayed; may be a timing slip |
| 31 to 60 | SMA-1 | Repeated stress; collections work begins in earnest |
| 61 to 90 | SMA-2 | Serious stress; last stage before NPA |
| Above 90 | NPA | Loan has stopped performing; provisioning applies |
For revolving facilities such as cash credit or overdraft, the count runs instead from the date the balance stays above the sanctioned limit or drawing power, whichever is lower. The SMA-1 and SMA-2 bands are the same 31 to 60 and 61 to 90 days.
RBI’s own example: a loan due on 31 March 2021 that stays unpaid is tagged SMA-1 at day-end on 30 April 2021, SMA-2 on 30 May 2021 and NPA on 29 June 2021.
Worked example: a ₹12,400 EMI paid late
A borrower’s EMI of ₹12,400 is due on 5 June. Nothing is paid on that date.
- 5 June to 5 July: June has 30 days, so the instalment is 30 days past due on 5 July. Following RBI’s example logic, the account is tagged SMA-1 at day-end on 5 July.
- 5 July to 17 July: another 12 days.
- On 17 July the borrower pays the full ₹12,400. DPD at payment = 30 + 12 = 42 days.
So this instalment passed through SMA-0 and reached SMA-1 before being cleared. It never reached SMA-2, which would have come at day-end on 4 August, 60 days after the due date. If the July EMI, also ₹12,400, was due on 5 July and unpaid, the account would still be overdue until both instalments, ₹24,800 in total, were cleared.
How does late payment show up before the bureau?
Bureau reports carry DPD, but they are updated on a reporting cycle, so a recent miss can take weeks to appear. A bank statement shows stress sooner:
- A NACH or ECS EMI debit followed by a return entry and a return charge.
- The same EMI re-presented a few days later.
- The balance sitting below the EMI amount on the due date.
An analyst reading the last three to six months of statements can often see a borrower slipping toward SMA-0 before the bureau does.
What to read next
The statement-side signal is the bounce, so read next: what is a bounce or inward return in a bank statement. For the regulatory context, see NBFC borrower tier classification under RBI SBR, and for the collections view, NACH EMI reconciliation for NBFCs.
TransactIQ reads applicant bank statements and surfaces returned EMI debits among its 40+ engineered credit signals. See the bank statement analyzer.