Page 6 - 15MAR2020E

Letters
WAS SITUATION reAlly
UNDer CONTrOl?
With reference to the report “No end in sight as Delhi burns”
by Dr Anil Singh (March 15)
When parts of Delhi were
burning and many people were
running away abandoning their
homes and all their worldly
possessions, some bureaucrats
and politicians were saying
that everything was under
control and there was nothing
to fear? The question is: under
whose control? Was it under
the control of leaders who have
been working for many years
to create communal discord in
the country; or was it under the
control of the law enforcement
personnel? A flag march took
place, more than three days after
the violence began. Was the
police’s delay in action because
of lack of personnel
MATheW GAINNeOS
letters@tehelka.com
Govt, RBI must tell why did banks. The government is left
they let YES Bank slide? with no option but to save the
With reference to the online report “ED arrests private commercial banks ‘from
Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor in money
laundering case” by Tehelka WebDesk (March 8) falling off the cliff’. It means that
Whether the State Bank of India the money deposited both in
should intervene and invest in the private sector banks and
the beleaguered YES Bank, a state-run banks go to fatten the
name with a positive connota- filthy rich.
tion, now placed under morato- ‘Incur losses to benefit the
rium, is debatable. Whatever is politically-connected big whales
done to help the hapless deposi- and then ‘’nationalize” them and
tors elicits a positive response put the burden on the nation’
from public. is what happens. Siphoning of
It was sad to see knots of ac- crores of rupees from banks has
counts holders, mainly deposi- become almost normal. Clearly,
tors queuing up in front of YES the losers are people of low
Bank branches in desperation. and moderate income groups.
You can imagine the difficulty of Meanwhile, jargon like ‘capital
the common depositors when infusion’, ‘non-performing as-
the deposit withdrawal is sets’, ‘balance sheet’ and ‘liquid-
capped at 50000. More, up to ity’ are beyond the grasp of
5 lakh, is said to be allowed to ordinary people.
As is its won’t, the Modi gov-
meet medical, educational and ernment tries to shift the blame
obligatory expenses. It is great
comfort for depositors that for the decline in YES Bank’s
there is insurance for deposits financial position bordering
up to 5 lakh. on collapse as a result of going
The employees of the ill-fated down the road of indiscriminate
YES Bank and those of compa- lending, but says not a word on
nies with salary accounts in it the four-fold expansion of the
loan from 55000 in 2014 to
are anxious and unsure of what
happens next must be helped 241000 in 2019. The Finance
and made to feel secure about Ministry and the RBI must
explain why they let YES Bank
the future.
At the same time, it is legiti- slide.
mate to ask why urgent action G.DaviD milton
should not be taken to recover How many readjustments is the
the dues from the borrowers
who dodge paying their loans. government of the day going to
The flip side is that there is a link make to save every bank that is
ready to collapse? What about
between YES Bank’s meltdown
and crony capitalism. Poor the State Bank of India’s own
credit decisions and ‘shadow non-performing assets? The Yes
Bank case shows that lending
banking’ carried out on fictitious heavily to corporates without
accounts are not unconnected
to political funding. It is also an due diligence of their loan his-
open secret that kickbacks are tory is one of the major issues
affecting the banking sector.
paid and received when loans
are granted. Had similar loan amounts been
It has become a practice extended to small- and medium-
scale industries it would have
for companies and dummy most certainly boosted growth
companies to borrow loans and
then plead ‘stress’ to explain and employment and might
defaults on repayment and have even revived the sinking
growth of MSMEs. The govern-
force the government to step in
‘to rescue and reconstruct’ the ment of the day needs to invite
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