The public sector impaired assets is stymieing overall economic growth. If we analyse the causes for this precarious situation the agricultural debt waiver scheme announced in 2008-09 is perhaps the fountainhead of the current PSB malaise. The inspiration for debt restructuring programmes were likely derived from the loan waiver scheme. Now those restructured assets have themselves become a menace by adding to the already overburdened NPAs.

Lack of accountability has been highest at the level of the boards of PSBs. The past boards should be held accountable for what appears to have been the systematic gaming of rules on restructuring. The trio in the board comprising the executive chair, government and the RBI’s nominee directors would take all important business and other decisions including the career progression of their senior management staff. Quite clearly they cannot escape accountability for the big holes in the finances of PSBs. Assuming that for all PSBs their restructured standard loans have a probability of 30 per cent slippage by the end of March 2016 and the high provision, it is possible that some PSBs are technically insolvent. TSN Rao

Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh

Bickering politicians

I agree with the editorial, ‘Final push for GST’ (December 7). A developing country like India with a myriad problems cannot allow its elected representatives to stop all work and waste their time and resources. The clearance on vital Bills is crucial for pushing pending reforms. Parliament is not the place for settling personal and political scores. If the political parties have differences of opinion on important issues, they can be settled through debates and discussions. The interest of the country should be upmost.

Veena Shenoy

Thane, Maharashtra

Gold crazy

Man’s craze for the yellow metal is well known. Exploiting this addiction, merchants in Kerala, Dubai and elsewhere made huge profits. In this context, the bullion prices falling sharply in the domestic markets is welcome. If gold is available at a throwaway prize, no one will pay heavily in the gold market. They will shift to diamond and platinum and that too will end up in misery. Gold merchants making huge profits by selling and buying gold have to find some other means to maintain their profits. Countries investing in gold will search for other options to maintain financial stability.

KA Solaman

Alappuzha, Kerala

Dig deep

In ‘New lending norms will hurt small farmers’ (December 4), Ashutosh Kumar Tripathi has raised concerns about direct lending to agriculture. In reality, commercial banks are lending to agriculture in the form of jewel loans. This type of violation makes their portfolio more secure and enables them to achieve targets imposed by the government. Banks avail of interest subsidy for concessional lending and also avail of interest incentives to farmers. If you get deep into this issue, more surprises are in store. Though there were instructions from the RBI in this connection, banks circumvent the rules. These issues need to be addressed. Sumathi

Chennai

Odd solution

The Delhi government’s announcement  to allow odd-even number cars on alternate days from January 1is absurd, illogical and impractical. A practical way would be to restrict the number of cars a person can have to one. There should be a complete ban on sale and purchase of new cars in Delhi. Cars registered after a certain date outside Delhi must not be allowed in Delhi. Cars more than 15 years old should not be allowed to run. The odd-even rule is a violation of Article 19 of the Constitution: “to move freely throughout the territory of India”; it restricts free movement of citizens.

M Kumar

New Delhi

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Send your letters by email to bleditor@thehindu.co.in or by post to ‘Letters to the Editor’, The Hindu Business Line, Kasturi Buildings, 859-860, Anna Salai, Chennai 600002.

Erratum

In the report, ‘Beauty start-ups on a roll; eye $30 million funding’ (December 5), it’s been wrongly reported that Vyomo is based in Gurgaon; it is based in Bengaluru. Further, it has about 1,500 stylists and not 500, as reported. The errors are regretted.

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