NEW DELHI: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Saturday blamed the Congress-led UPA government for the
NPA crisis and said that "every penny of loans given at behest of 'naamdaars' will be recovered".
The Prime Minister, who was speaking at the launch of the payments bank of Indian postal department, said that during the rule of the Congress-led UPA government
a system of 'phone banking' was established.
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"The phone-a-loan scam of the previous UPA regime where money was lent by banks to select rich businessmen close to a particular family for mounting non-performing assets (NPA) or bad loans but vowed to recover every penny from defaulters," he said taking a dig at the Congress.
"This phone banking of Congress and its 'naamdaars' caused a lot of damage to the country," he said, adding banks obliged 'naamdaars because top executives were appointed by the same 'naamdaars'.
"Despite knowing that the loans would not be returned, banks lent money," he said.
And when these borrowers started defaulting, pressure was mounted on banks to give more time and then restructure these loans by giving more funds.
Loans were given without any due diligence and keeping aside all rules and norms, he said, adding defaulters were given further funds in the name of loan restructuring.
"All the terms and conditions required for granting of loans were set aside and only Congress and people associated with the party were preferred," he alleged
The Prime Minister held the previous government's liberal policy to disburse loans responsible for the NPA crisis. "The country was cheated when the last government put such loan amount at Rs 2-2.5 lakh crore when it actually was Rs 9 lakh crore," he added.
The Prime Minister's attack comes days after Congress President Rahul Gandhi's attack on the government for NPAs jumping to Rs 12.5 lakh crore under the BJP rule from Rs 2.5 lakh crore under the previous UPA regime.
NPAs are Congress' sins, says Modi
Squarely blaming the previous UPA government for the NPAs in banks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said his government was wrongly criticised for the "sins" of the Congress which even hid the exact value of these stressed assets.
"From Independence to 2008, the country's bank had disbursed only Rs 18 lakh crore in the form of loans. However, in the next six years the banks had granted loans worth Rs 52 lakh crore," he said.
PM Modi also claimed that NDA government has not granted even a single loan to defaulters and asserted that the NPA crisis is a legacy of the previous government.
"Soon after our government came to power, we realized that the country's economy is sitting on a landmine. Had we revealed the state of the economy at that time, it would have caused a massive explosion. We had to take great care to rectify the mess in the economy," he said.
The Prime Minister then elaborated the steps taken by his government to sort the NPA mess.
"In last four years, loans bigger than Rs 50 crores have been asssessed. We are ensuring that conditions prescribed for granting of loans are strictly adhered with. We changed the law, we took decisions to merge several banks and promoted professionalism in the working of the banks, “ he said.
