New Delhi: Banks have technically written off a whopping Rs 68,607 crore in outstanding loans of top 50 wilful defaulters. Among the defaulters are firms belonging to fugitive economic offenders Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya, till September 30, 2019. This information has been provided by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to an RTI query.
List of defaulters released
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala released the list of the defaulters Tuesday. He did so while sharing the response of RBI to the query filed by activist Saket Gokhale.
Rahul Gandhi’s reactions
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said he had asked the government in Parliament the names of the top 50 bank loan defaulters. However, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not answer his question.
Now, the RBI has given out the list which includes Nirav Modi, Choksi and many of BJP’s ‘friends’, Rahul said.
“I asked a straight question in Parliament. State the names of the 50 top bank loan defaulters in the country. The finance minister refused to answer the question,” Rahul said in a tweet in Hindi.
“Now the RBI has given the names of Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and many of BJP’s ‘friends’ in the list of bank frauds. That is why this truth was held back from Parliament,” Rahul alleged.
The Congress alleged the government has waived loans worth Rs 6.66 lakh crore since 2014 till September 2019.
Major defaulters
According to the RTI reply, absconding dimantaire Choksi’s company ‘Gitanjali Gems’ tops the list of the defaulters. The amount is a whopping of Rs 5,492 crore. This is followed by REI Agro with Rs 4,314 crore and Winsome Diamonds with Rs 4,076 crore.
Rotomac Global Private Limited has funded advances of Rs 2,850 crore which have been technically written off. So is the case with Kudos Chemie Ltd (Rs 2,326 crore), and Ruchi Soya Industries Limited (Rs 2,212 crore). Incidentally Ruchi Soya is now owned by Ramdev’s Patanjali. Zoom Developers Pvt Ltd with Rs 2,012 crore is the other company to default the payment.
Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines figures in the list at number nine, with outstanding of Rs 1,943 crore. The amount has been been technically written off by the banks.
Forever Precious Jewellery and Diamonds Private Limited have loans of Rs 1,962 crore written off. Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited have Rs 1,915 crore yet to pay according to the RTI reply.
Choksi’s other firms Gili India and Nakshatra Brands also have loans of Rs 1,447 and Rs 1109 crore respectively written off.
RBI statement
“The information on top 50 wilful defaulters and their sum of funded amount outstanding and amount technically/prudentially written off as on September 30, 2019 reported in CRILC by banks, is provided,” the RBI said in its written response dated April 24.
Congress questions move
Surjewala demanded answers from the prime minister on why their loans were waived. “This is a classic case of promoting ‘dupe, deceive and depart’ policy of the Modi government. This can no longer be accepted and the prime minister has to answer,” he told reporters.
Surjewala also said ‘this reflects the misconceived priorities and dishonest intentions of the Modi government’.
The Congress spokesperson said the entire country is fighting the coronavirus. The he government has no money to pay to states. However, it has the money to condone and write off Rs 68,607 crore of bank loan defaulters.
“Why were these loans waived? The government should spell out the reason. Why is the prime minister silent? The country is seeking answers. The prime minister will have to tell the people,” Surjewala stated. He also asked whether the government was under any pressure to do so.
PTI
Reserve Bank of India, Mehul Choksi, Vijay Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines, Rahul Gandhi, Nirmala Sitharaman, Loans, RTI