Will do out best to break 'unholy nexus' between businessmen, bankers: Urjit Patel

NEW DELHI: Breaking his silence over the Rs 13,540 crore fraud at state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel on Wednesday said the central bank, as the guard of people's deposits at banks, will do its best to break the "unholy nexus".

"I have chosen to speak today to convey that we at the RBI also feel the anger, hurt and pain at the banking sector frauds and irregularities. In plain simple English, these practices amount to a looting of our country's future by some in the business community, in cahoots with some lenders," Patel said while delivering a lecture at the Gujarat National Law University.

"As safeguards of your deposits at banks, and starting with the Asset Quality Review of banks announced by the Reserve Bank in 2015 -- since ably conducted by our supervisory teams and as acknowledged objectively by experts of reputed multilateral agencies, we are doing all we can to break this unholy nexus," he said.

Expressing deep anguish over the frauds in public sector banks (PSBs), Patel said the RBI will do its duty and even consume the poison and face brickbats.

"If we need to face the brickbats and be the Neelakantha consuming this poison, we will do so as our duty; we will persist with our endeavours and get better with each trial and tribulation along the way," Patel said.