New Delhi:

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated at the moment that banks have recovered greater than Rs 10 lakh crores from unhealthy loans between 2014 and 2023, as a part of the reforms course of carried out by the Modi authorities.

“The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has investigated round 1,105 financial institution fraud instances, which resulted within the attachment of proceeds of crime amounting to 64,920 crores. As of December 2023, property amounting to fifteen,183 crores have been restituted to public sector banks,” the Finance Minister posted in an in depth assertion on X.

“The Opposition, habituated to spreading lies, wrongly claims that there was a “waiver” of loans given to industrialists,” the Finance Minister stated.

Stepping up the assault on her political rivals she stated: “Regardless of claiming to be “specialists” in finance and financial system, it is a pity that opposition leaders are nonetheless unable to tell apart between write-offs and waivers. After the ‘write-offs’ as per RBI’s tips, banks actively pursue the restoration of unhealthy loans. And, there was no “waiver” of loans for any industrialist.”

She added that there was no leniency in recovering unhealthy loans, particularly from massive defaulters, and the method is ongoing.

She bolstered her argument by declaring that India’s banking sector achieved a big milestone by recording its highest-ever web revenue, crossing 3 lakh crores in 2023-24.

“That is in stark distinction to the scenario earlier than 2014 when the Congress-led UPA authorities turned the banking sector right into a cesspool of unhealthy loans, vested pursuits, corruption and mismanagement,” Ms Sitharaman remarked.

She stated that the ‘seeds’ of the NPA disaster had been sown throughout the Congress-led UPA period via ‘Cellphone Banking’ when loans got to undeserving companies below stress from UPA leaders and get together functionaries. This led to an enormous improve in Non-Performing Property (NPAs) and institutionalised grafts.

“Many banks hid and prevented reporting their unhealthy loans by ‘evergreening’ or restructuring them. Varied measures by our authorities and the RBI, such because the Asset High quality Overview, disclosed hidden mountains of NPAs and ended the accounting methods used to cover them,” the Finance Minister stated.

She identified that two former RBI governors have overtly uncovered the extent of decay within the system left by the UPA regime. Raghuram Rajan described the NPA disaster throughout the UPA period as a “historic phenomenon of irrational exuberance. Equally, former Governor Urjit Patel famous that the functioning of PSBs below the UPA suffered from “a perennial shortcoming on account of bureaucratic inertia and political meddling,” she stated.

She stated that the Congress-era reckless and imprudent lending created the disgraceful legacy of the ‘Twin Steadiness Sheet’ downside, which we inherited in 2014.

“Credit score progress slowed to a decade-low degree. Banks additionally suffered enormous losses and erosion of capital resulting from greater provisioning,” the Finance Minister stated.
 

(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)