Both BJP, Cong claim victory over Rajan note
Former RBI guv lists reasons behind NPA crisis
NEWDELHI: Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan’s written submission to the Parliament estimates committee on the issue of Non-performing Assets (NPAS) in banks has triggered a war of words between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with each blaming the other for the crisis which threatens to hobble Indian banks and hurt the world’s sixth-largest economy.
In the main, the BJP trained its guns on the Congress on the basis of Rajan’s statement that most bad loans originated between 2006 and 2008; and the Congress on the BJP because Rajan said he set up a fraud monitoring cell and sent a list of high-risk offenders to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) but nothing much came of this. Rajan doesn’t mention when he sent the list to the PMO, although the fraud monitoring cell was set up in 2016.
Union textile minister Smriti Irani said on Tuesday that Rajan’s statement clearly proves it is the Congress, and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government which it led between 2004 and 2014, that was responsible for increased NPAS.
“UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi led a government that attacked the very core of the Indian banking system. Raghuram Rajan has said that between 2006-08, the UPA functioning led to increased NPAS in the Indian banking structure,” she said.
What Rajan has said, she added, is a reflection of not only the ‘mafia raj’ in policies during the UPA government, but also a challenge that the previous government left behind for the nation to deal with.
The Congress’s chief spokesperson, Randeep Singh Surjewala, picked on the point about the fraud monitoring cell set up in 2016 and the list sent to the PMO.
“But no action has been taken. He (Rajan) has indicted the Prime Minister and the PMO on the fraud being committed and on the escape of fraudsters,” he said. Surjewala claimed that the list included the names of jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, who are accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank (PNB) to the tune of ₹13,500 crore. “But no action was taken against any of the people in the list. This shows Prime Minister Modi’s complicity,” he alleged.
PETROL CROSSES ₹90 MARK IN MAHA TOWN
NEW DELHI: Petrol and diesel prices hit fresh highs on Tuesday with a 14 paise per litre hike. In Delhi, petrol climbed to ₹80.87 a litre. It reached ₹88.26 a litre in Mumbai. A litre of diesel in the national capital was priced at ₹72.97 and ₹77.47 in mumbai. in maharashtra’ s pa rb ha ni, petrol price crossed the psychological mark of 90.