Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that the skewed banking policies have resulted in banks targeting the common man who are unable to repay meagre loans while letting major defaulters go scot-free. Besides, the taxpayers’ money was being used to make up for the mounting non-performing assets (NPAs) and protect the interests of corporates. He was inaugurating the golden jubilee of bank nationalisation, organised by the All Kerala Bank Employees’ Federation, here on Tuesday.
NPAs
Mr. Vijayan said that public sector banks (PSBs) were in the midst of a crisis caused by the neo-liberal policies that were titled in favour of the affluent. While PSBs had disbursed loans to the tune of ₹88 lakh crore the last fiscal, 55% of these were amounts greater than ₹5 crore. Besides, 84% of the total NPAs, worth ₹10 lakh crore, were big-ticket loans sanctioned to corporate firms and the wealthy sections. While PSBs had registered a gross profit of ₹1.55 lakh crore during 2017-18, they were later reported to have suffered a net loss of ₹8,000 crore. This implied that the profits were diverted to make up for the NPAs.
“Huge sums were lent for such groups, even while the common populace were being sidelined.” He also harped on the repercussions of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest Act, which had rendered many families homeless.
