‘Will get back all money taken away from banks:’ Sitharaman talks tough

Jammu: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said all the money taken away from the banks will be taken back as the government is actively pursuing the cases of loan defaulters and will not let them go scot-free, particularly those who have fled the country.

She said the central government is working in close coordination with the J&K administration to ensure that not only the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) but every centrally sponsored scheme benefits every citizen of the Union territory.

The finance minister was addressing a function after launching new schemes and handing over orders to various beneficiaries under the financial inclusion and credit outreach programme here.

Sitharaman said that while the government is generously putting all its resources to make J&K work well in a transparent way, “any wrongdoing that has happened in the banks, any loans that have been taken away and not repaid till now, I am sure our system will work in such a way that the wrongdoers and the money...will be brought back.”

The finance minister said that is what has been happening in the entire country.

“The non-performing assets (NPAs) of the banks had been a cause for worry when Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. In order to bring down the NPAs, a specific ‘4Rs’ strategy of recognition, resolution, recapitalisation and reforms showed immediate results,” she said.

Sitharaman reached Jammu on the second leg of her tour from Kashmir and inspected stalls put up by beneficiaries of government schemes. She said the government pursued defaulters who took away loans and let it become the NPA and did not pay back the taxpayers’ money that is in the banks, whether they are in this country or have gone away.

The government ensured that their proper ties are attached, and through a legal process, sold or auctioned them and that money have been paid back to banks, she added.

“This shall continue to happen, irrespective of where the NPAs holders are and irrespective of where their accounts were. Every NPA shall be pursued actively and that shall apply to J&K as well,” she said adding “we shall get back all the money taken awa”.

Speaking to reporters here, Sitharaman said, “We shall not let go any defaulters (scot-free), particularly those, who have fled the country.”

She was replying to a question on whether the central government has seized the assets and properties of two big loan defaulters liquor baron Vijay Mallya and diamantaire Nirav Modi to get money back to the banks.

“First of all, every time, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya (are raked up) - why two names only? There are many more such names,” She said.

Sitharaman pointed towards NPA during the previous UPA rule and said that in every one of these cases, ‘‘I say with a certain sense of responsibility that NPA used to happen earlier too. -(PTI)