NEW DELHI : The COVID-19 pandemic may set back the recovery of India's banking sector by years, which could hit credit flows and, ultimately, the economy, S&P Global Ratings said on Tuesday.The US-based rating agency expects non-performing loans in Indian banks will hit a fresh high, raising credit costs, and putting pressure on ratings."In our base case, we expect the non-performing loans to shoot up to 13-14% of total loans in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021, compared with an estimated 8.5% in the previous fiscal year," said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Deepali Seth-Chhabria.Moreover, the resolution of these bad-debt situations will likely unfold slowly, which means banks may also be saddled with a huge stock of bad loans next.