Credit to RBI

Apropos your editorial ‘The last bastion’ (April 2), the RBI, no doubt, deserves kudos for its stellar supervisory role of the Indian banking industry, as well as managing the nation’s economy through all its ups and downs, during its 90 years of existence. Thanks to its strict supervision, the ring-fenced Indian banks did not even experience a ripple during the global financial crisis of 2008.

However, in its aftermath, when the government advised banks not to let any business, especially exporters, suffer, by liberally rescheduling their loans, a number of banks went overboard by evergreening their loans. This ‘exercise in self-deception’ came to light only when the RBI conducted a thorough ‘asset quality review’ in 2015, forcing the banks to downgrade all such loans as NPAs, followed by their heavy recapitalisation by the government. It is such misdemeanours of banks which seem to get detected by the RBI too late in the day, despite having a robust reporting system in place, that is worrisome. The RBI needs to tighten up its supervision, or outsource some of its functions to able third parties.

V Jayaraman

Chennai

Protecting banks

It is great news that the apex bank of India has completed nine decades of its existence, traversing through various turbulences. When Western nations were impacted by the sub-prime crisis and East Asian financial crisis, the RBI protected its member banks through stringent regulations. The apex bank’s role should not rest with mere holding of periodical MPC meetings, rate changes and currency management. It should look decades ahead and devise policies that would help strengthen the economy.

GS Santharam

Madurai

Growth of toy sector

Unlike high-value products like mobile phones and electronics, the toy industry offers a unique landscape for creative experimentation and innovation, making it an ideal sector for India to target for development. By prioritising incentives based on value addition, particularly on key processes such as design, research, and quality testing, the PLI scheme can effectively prevent the proliferation of imported knock-down kits for assembly in India.

This approach will not only empower small and medium enterprises within the sector but also stimulate the development of a skilled workforce and encourage further research and design improvements, ultimately enhancing the quality and competitiveness of Indian toys and electronics in the global market.

Jacob JP

Thiruvanathapuram

Stars in Parliament

Unlike the South where film stars take politics very seriously, those in other parts of the nation treat politics very differently. The record of most stars in Parliament leaves a lot to be desired. Some of them have surprisingly got re-elected. Maybe they do a lot of good work in their constituencies but the probability seems remote. Most spend little time in the House as they are busy with their projects. Politics is a full- time job and more. No Indian citizen an be barred from contesting, but the people should be careful about selecting the individuals whom they want to represent them in Parliament.

Anthony Henriques

Mumbai

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