Chinese lenders added 64.7 billion yuan ($10.6 billion) worth of new non-performing loans during the first three quarters of the year, says a report published by a joint-stock rating agency on Thursday.

By the end of September, the total NPL levels of lenders amounted to 563.6 billion yuan, said the report on the prospects of the Chinese banking industry released by China Cheng Xin International Credit Rating Co Ltd.

The agency said the NPL rate is still within manageable levels, even though it increased to 0.97 percent during the period under review. That marked a 0.02 percentage points increase over the NPL rate for the whole of 2012, it said. Listed banks accounted for nearly 80.62 percent of the new NPLs.

Industries plagued by overcapacity, such as iron and steel, photovoltaic, and shipping, have been the major contributors to the soaring NPL.

Most of these companies were based in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, and took up nearly 90 percent of the new NPLs.