New Delhi, Sept 1: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 1, 2018, blamed ‘phone-a-loan’ scam of the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for the bad loans in the banking sector and asserted that every penny given at the behest of ‘naamdars’ (dynasts) would be recovered.
Launching a payments bank of the postal department, Mr. Modi said that during the previous regime, the majority of bank funds were reserved only for the rich who were close to a particular family
Against ₹18 lakh crore loans given since Independence to 2008, the figure rose to an astronomical ₹ 52 lakh crore in six years thereafter, he noted.
“Loans were given on phone calls made by ‘naamdars’.” Banks lent crores of rupees to businessmen who were referred by the ‘naamdars’ in contravention of rules. “Knowing fully well that loans will not be paid back, banks lent money on orders of a family to a few.” And lenders were forced to restructure the debts when the borrowers defaulted, he alleged .
Mr. Modi charged the previous UPA government of hiding the extent of non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks. Since coming to power in 2014, the National Democratic Alliance government had analysed the enormity of the situation and asked banks to strictly recover dues.
‘Congress put economy on a landmine’
“The Congress had put the economy on a landmine,” he said. “Our government brought out the true picture of NPAs and the scam of the previous government.”
In the the last four years, all loans in excess of ₹50 crore have been reviewed and ensured that terms were strictly complied with. Twelve of the biggest loan defaulters have an outstanding of ₹1.75 lakh crore. Another 27 have ₹1 lakh crore. “We never gave any loans to any of the 12 big defaulters,” he said.
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