CII for steps to resolve NPA issues

Defaulters I think should have our sympathies, while wilful defaulters should not. You should go after them with full force of law, said CII president Naushad Forbes.

Premier industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is all for the efforts to address non-performing assets (NPAs) in the banking industry but in doing so would like the authorities to distinguish between wilful defaulters and those who defaulted as a result of bad business decisions they took.

“Going bust is not a crime. Were laws broken in the process?”, its president Naushad Forbes said, pointing out that there are legal, moral and business perspectives - what matters is only the legal perspective.

Mr. Forbes, who along with CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee, addressing mediapersons here on Thursday, said that thus it was important to distinguish between wilful defaulters and defaulters. “Defaulters I think should have our sympathies, while wilful defaulters should not. You should go after them with full force of law,” he said.

Lifestyle of defaulters

Elaborating on the perspectives, he said flamboyant lifestyles of defaulters are under scanner. “Flamboyant lifestyle is not against the law, it is a moral issue. I may not approve of it, I may not want to have dinner with that person... conspicuous consumption is distasteful but it is not against the law,” he said. His observations come in the backdrop of the ongoing efforts of the banks to recover around Rs.9,000 crore from industrialist Vijay Mallya.

“A business default in itself is not against the law. Going bankrupt is not a crime. It is a result, reflection of taking risks in business” he said.

‘Change likely’

Even if the banks were able to lend lot more, there is no demand for loans. He expected this situation to change, as the investment cycle starts to turn, by end of this year. On GDP, he said CII expects the economy to grow at 8 per cent in the current fiscal on the back of a good monsoon and pick up in agriculture sector.

The industry body, he said, looked forward to the Opposition paving the way for passage of the GST legislation since the new structure had the potential to boost GDP growth by at least 1.5 per cent. The CII, he said, would be setting up a world-class university, focussed on humanities, on the PPP model in Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh. In association with the State Government, it also wanted to set up a convention centre, on around 100 acres, and a centre for start-ups in the new capital of the State.