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Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not mince words when he addressed industry captains at the 90th Annual General Meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry here on Wednesday.
In a speech that lasted slightly over 45 minutes, Modi put to rest all concerns pertaining to use of individuals deposits for bailing out banks. Dismissing rumours about the Financial Regulation and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill, he said that the government will protect the interests of the account holders. He said that the government is committed to strengthening the banking framework of the country.
The government has come under fire after sections of the Opposition had alleged that the FRDI Bill allowed banks to bail out errant borrowers at the cost of depositors.
Stating that the burden of non performing assets (NPAs) is the biggest scam of the United Progressive Alliance led government, he said, “The NPAs are the biggest liability passed on to the current government by the UPA. The banks were pressurised to give loans to select large entrepreneurs during the previous government. This is the biggest scam of the previous government that had overseen the 2G and CWG scams.”
On the NPA issue, Modi also rapped the industry’s knuckles, saying industry bodies such as FICCI should have been more vigilant in highlighting the discrepancies.
He said, “Has there been any study by FICCI like industry bodies on the mismanagement of banks by the UPA?”
Modi also trained his guns on the real estate sector, saying industry bodies should have highlighted the malpractices of real estate companies too. He said, “The RERA laws have been introduced by this government, what was preventing the previous one from doing the same?”
GST issueThe Prime Minister also said that it is the responsibility of industry bodies to ensure that benefits of price reduction after the Goods and Services Tax roll out are passed through.
He said, “Those on social media may have seen that restaurants are hiking their product rates after the GST rate was lowered. This defeats the purpose of the GST and industry bodies should be more vigilant.” He highlighted the Jan Dhan Yojana as an example of his government’s achievement. He said, “When we started the scheme, we had no idea about the number of accounts that are needed to be opened. Today 30 crore new recipients have joined through the Jan Dhan Yojana.”
Modi also said that the free LPG connection scheme has come to the benefit of rural India. He said, “There has been a softening of fuel inflation in the rural areas after 3 crore women have gained connections under the Ujjwala Yojana.”
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