New Delhi, March 26 -- Opposition members in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday accused the government of writing off crores of rupees owed by wilful defaulters who have fled the country while crushing banks under the burden of non-performing assets.
Participating in the discussion on the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 in the Upper House, Shaktisinh Gohil (Congress) said the government has written off Rs 87,000 crore owed by 50 wilful defaulters till 2024 citing official data.
"People, including Mehul Chokshi and Rishi Agarwal are in the list of those wilful defaulters. The government has written off loans to those people who looted this country and fled abroad. But when poor, small traders and farmers default on loans the government auctions their assets," he said.
Expressing similar views, Saket Gokhale (TMC) said by the government's own admission, consumption is down in the economy and people are not taking loans to buy any new products or to consume something new but they are taking loans to service their existing loans.
"The other side of this problem is that Indian banks are being crushed under the burden of non-performing assets (NPAs). In just the last five years Indian banks have a staggering Rs 10 lakh crore in NPAs," he said.
This is not created by ordinary people, Gokhale said, adding "this is created by a bunch of ten-fifteen people who defrauded the system and left the country".
Taking a dig at the government's approach to solve the 'NPA crisis', he said, "Banks have now been told to write off NPAs....these NPAs are taken off the balance sheets of banks, it does not mean they are repaid. It just means that they are taken off to make the balance sheet look healthy...but this money is still not being recovered."
Countering the Opposition's charge, Arun Singh (BJP) said the loans were given during the UPA regime without proper procedure that led to the NPA crisis of banks.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.