From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Saturday sought a full white paper from the Modi government on privatisation of the public sector banks and what it aims to achieve through reckless privatisation.
Its spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also asked the government at a press conference here to stop pressurising institutions like the RBI tow the government line. One has to look no further than demonetisation to assess what it aims to achieve through the reckless privatisation.
She said the RBI Friday night forced to disown its own research report published in the August issue of the RBI bulletin that clearly says ” big bang approach of privatisation of public banks may do more harm than good.”
“It’s a pity that the same RBI which once hailed -Nationalization of 14 Banks as the single most Important Economic decision taken by any Govt since 1947, is today forced to disown their Researcher’s Reports praising Public Sector Banks and their efficiency,” she said.
She said: “The RBI bulletin clearly states that on measures of financial inclusion—like total branches, agricultural advances and priority sector lending advances, Public Banks prove to be more efficient than private ones.”
The RBI bulletin clearly states that on measures of financial inclusion—like total branches, agricultural advances and priority sector lending advances, Public Banks prove to be more efficient than private ones.
Shrinate underlined that the report highlights how the PSBs have lion’s share in lending to infrastructure projects — crucial to the country’s growth and development.
She said the report also busts the myth that the private banks meet priority sector lending did not achieve 40% target given to it. She explained how the private banks did not invest in the priority sectors, but by issuing the priority sector lending certificates, the instruments sold to banks that have not met their targets to enable the private banks meet their priority sector lending targets without actually lending to the sectors outside their comfort zone.
