Right decision

With reference to the editorial ‘Check this out’ (April 29), SEBI was right in withholding Hotel Leelaventures from selling its core assets, hotels to Brookfield Asset Management. It is the minority shareholders who are always at the receiving end in these kinds of transactions. Though lenders will be disappointed due to this delay in resolution, minority shareholders’ interests also need to be protected. Minority shareholders need to thank LIC for stalling the progress as these domestic institutions usually toe the promoters’ line.

Noida

The decision of Bank of Maharashtra, a PSB, to ban loans to farmers in Marathwada and Vidharba due to high delinquency is deplorable. When the present government has promised to double bank credit to the farm sector, the bank’s move is contrary to government promises.

Defaults in farm loans happen due to hike in cost of inputs, farm labour, vagaries of monsoon and unremunerative prices. Wilful default by farmers is very rare.

The PSBs were nationalised to give increased priority sector lending of 40 per cent with sub target of 18 per cent for direct agricultural lending. Banks should restructure the NPAs under farm loan and finance the farmers for next crop. RBI/Finance Ministry should further soften the prudential norms for farm loans and ensure that banks do not impose ban on farm loans.

Madurai

It was embarrassing the Reserve Bank of India could ignore the orders of the Supreme Court and the Central Information Commission to disclose the names of the defaulters of loans and part with the inspection reports on banks for such a long time.

However, the latest advice of the apex court to uphold the interests of people at large and the ultimatum to comply with the provisions of the RTI Act immediately could well be an opportunity for the central bank to re-establish its position as a responsible fiduciary.

Not long ago, the Supreme Court had directed the RBI to share the names of all defaulters, who owe over ₹500 crore and continued to lead ‘lavish lifestyle.’

But the RBI chose to maintain secrecy, perceptibly in absolute disregard of the order of the apex court. It is important now to know why the RBI had guarded the identity of the defaulters and dodgers from the public so fiercely.

Kozhikode

With reference to ‘NDA vs UPA: The economic scorecard’ (April 29), it may be tempting to analyse which government has done better on the economic front when elections are on despite the many ‘ifs and buts’. Interestingly, the author himself holds the view that there are always time gaps between policies and the effects; and spillovers are imminent and goes on to add that careless practices can have negative impact after a lag which makes it hard to separate the two.

Needless to say, the domestic as well as the global economic scenario was quite different during their respective regimes in 2009-14 and 2014-15 to 2018-19. So any comparison on this count may not be fully justified.

Besides elections nowadays are fought solely on emotive issues like caste, creed, religion among others. Moreover, some highly ill-conceived ideas like the waiver of the farmers’ loans apart from false assurance of jobs for the nation’s vast army of the unemployed youths too have become the order of the day.

Also to score brownie points, governments tend to take credit for everything that goes right and pass on the blame for anything amiss to another regime.

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.