Yes Bank fiasco caused by ‘mismanagement’ of financial institutions under BJP govt: PC
NEW DELHI: Congress leader and former Union finance minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said the Yes Bank fiasco was caused by "mismanagement" of financial institutions under the BJP government and demanded that the RBI conduct a thorough probe and fix accountability in the matter.
He said it was "bizarre" for State Bank of India to invest Rs 2,450 crore to pick up a 49-per cent stake in the crisis-ridden bank under the governmentapproved bailout plan.
"This is a matter that must be thoroughly inquired into and accountability fixed," he told reporters.
The Congress leader's comments came after the RBI in a rare move on Thursday placed under moratorium capital-starved Yes Bank, superseded its board and capped withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per account for a month. Chidambaram asked how no officer of the RBI noticed a 35-per cent jump in the loan book of the bank in a year, when loan books of other banks were growing at nine per cent.
Yes Bank indulging in loan giving spree "isn't banking but buccaneering", he said, adding that the loan book of Yes Bank from March 2014 to March 2019 was allowed to grow and jump manifold.
"How did the loan book of
Yes Bank jump from Rs 55,633 crore in March 2014 to Rs 2,41,499 crore in March 2019, when I was not the finance minister...notice the spike in 2016-17 and 2017-18, the two years immediately following demonetisation. Is no one in the RBI or government accountable," he asked.
"All I am saying is some authority, RBI, I have great faith in RBI than on the Government, must look into it thoroughly and come up with the truth. The attempts should not be to brush everything under the carpet," he noted.
On SBI offering to come to the aid, he said he does not get the impression that SBI is a volunteer in the rescue act, just as LIC was not a volunteer in the IDBI Bank rescue act. "These are command performances," he noted.