To guide state-owned banks in taking accountability for non-performing assets, the finance ministry recently published a new set of standards and issued the “Staff Accountability Framework for NPA Accounts up to Rs 50 crore (other than fraud cases)”.
In order to clean up banks saddled with NPAs, the centre created the National Asset Reconstruction Company which will procure strained assets worth Rs 2 lakh crore, while the India Debt Resolution Company will dispose them of.
Victor Hugo said that no power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come. Thirty years ago in 1991, the then finance minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, introduced the reforms bill and quoted Hugo in Parliament. That process helped India begin a new economic voyage.
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a surge in gold loans, showing the distressing shape of the economy. But this is an opportunity for public sector banks and they have increased lending in this sector.
The excruciating burden of high fuel prices on the common man continues unabated. The price of petrol and diesel has reached a record high in many cities of India. And the government has simply put the onus on the UPA dispensation.