Surat : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the Right to Information (RTI) application, filed by Surat-based social activist Sanjay Ezhawa, has exposed a massive financial development. The BJP-led NDA government, during its nine-year tenure under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has written off a staggering Rs 25 lakh crore worth of loans. This information has left the nation in awe and has triggered a cascade of debates and discussions.
The NDA government, a combination of NDA Government-1 and NDA Government-2, held power for nine years, spanning from 2014-2015 to 2022-2023. During this period, they authorized the write-off of Rs 10.41 lakh crore through public banks across India and an additional Rs 14.53 lakh crore through Scheduled Commercial banks. The cumulative sum of these loans adds up to an astonishing Rs 24.95 lakh crore.
This enormous amount of money has sent shockwaves through India’s economic landscape, raising significant questions and concerns. It’s important to note that the RBI’s disclosure only includes statistical information, and the names of the defaulters have not been unveiled. However, it remains the highest loan write-off amount revealed in India’s financial history. This amount written off by NDA-1 and NDA-2 is approximately 810% higher than the sum written off during the combined tenure of UPA Government-1 and UPA Government-2.
To understand the gravity of this revelation, let’s compare it with the loan write-offs during the UPA governments. UPA Government-1 and UPA Government-2 governed for 11 years, from 2003-2004 to 2013-2014. During this time, they approved the write-off of Rs 1.58 lakh crore through public banks and Rs 2.17 lakh crore through Scheduled Commercial Banks, totaling Rs 3.76 lakh crore.
What makes this comparison more astonishing is the annual loan write-off amounts. UPA Governments wrote off an annual average of Rs 34,192 crore during their 11-year tenure, while the NDA Government-1 and NDA Government-2 together wrote off an average of Rs 2.77 lakh crore per annum. In essence, the amount written off by the UPA government in 11 years equals the amount written off by the NDA government in just 17 months.
Out of the massive Rs 25 lakh crore written off, the burden falls disproportionately on common citizens and farmers, who took relatively smaller loans. The major beneficiaries of this write-off are the crony capitalists who fled the country after borrowing substantial amounts.
The Reserve Bank of India established the Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) to gather, store, and disseminate credit data to lenders. As of June 2023, CRILC has reported that Scheduled Commercial Banks have written off 3,973 accounts with loans exceeding Rs.5 crore. This staggering number is indicative of the magnitude of the issue at hand.
Out of the Rs 25 lakh crores written off by Scheduled Commercial Banks over the nine-year period from 2014-2015 to 2022-2023, only Rs. 2.5 lakh crore (10% of the total) has been recovered. This prompts a critical question: Why has the Indian government not been more effective in retrieving these substantial amounts?
The figures tell a disconcerting story – that immense wealth has been siphoned abroad by industrialists, and the government’s efforts to recover these loans have not been fruitful. The question now arises: Should the nation have to endure these monumental losses with the government’s support? Until the people are fully aware and engaged, India will continue to bear the brunt of such financial setbacks.
