Skip to main content

Loan Waivers Affect Credit Culture: Das

Says liquidity infusion should be need-based, idle cash in the system won’t be encouraged
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das struck a note of caution on farm loan waivers, saying open-ended forgiveness would affect credit culture and the behaviour of borrowers. He also said the central bank is open to taking more steps to infuse liquidity if the need arises but it doesn’t want too much cash sloshing around in the banking system. “Liquidity needs of the economy are regularly monitored and whatever steps are required will be taken,” Das said at a press briefing in Delhi. “RBI would not like a situation where liquidity becomes a kind of loose money.” Any infusion of liquidity will have to be based on requirements.
Das met representatives of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the capital on Monday and will meet executives of nonbanking finance companies (NBFCs) in Mumbai on Tuesday to get a perspective on liquidity needs. He said MSME representatives made suggestions that will be examined internally. North Block has over the past few months sought the easing of lending and capital rules for banks and providing more liquidity to NBFCs following the default by Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS). “Liquidity issue has been mentioned time and again. I have got several inputs over the last one month. I have had interaction with several stakeholders and we have a sense of the current liquidity situation,” he said.
‘Liquidity Needs Being Met’
The central bank has announced additional open market operations to the tune of Rs 60,000 crore. The central bank believes that the liquidity requirements of the economy and financial institutions are being met to a great extent, he said.
FARM LOANS
States should think hard before announcing farm loan waivers, Das said. The statement assumes significance in the wake of three newly elected state governments implementing waivers following poll promises. “Elected governments have the constitutional mandate to take decisions with regard to their finance but every state government, before taking decisions on any kind of farm loan waivers, has to very carefully examine its fiscal space,” Das said. “It’s also for the individual governments to examine whether they have the fiscal space to meet the requirements and release the money to the banks immediately. Any generalised kind of write-off obviously has an adverse effect on the credit culture and the future credit behaviour of the borrowers.”
About Rs 1.47 lakh crore of agricultural loans is outstanding in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, which announced waivers recently. In 2017, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab announced they would write off loans. Earlier this year, the coalition government in Karnataka also announced a farm loan waiver.
NPAS, BANK GOVERNANCE
Bank nonperforming assets (NPAs) have declined as per the RBI’s Financial Stability Review that was released last week. “There is considerable amount of improvement, which has to be sustained if banks have to fulfil their responsibility and if some of the banks have to become healthy,” Das said, adding that the RBI is also looking at governance reforms in state-owned banks. “We do not want to create a framework which imposes restriction or throttle the functioning of banks. Governance reforms are an important component of the revival of public sector banks.”
INTERIM DIVIDEND
Asked about reports that the RBI will transfer Rs 40,000 crore as interim dividend to the government, he said: “As and when RBI takes any decision on any matter, you will come to know about it.” He said a lot of correspondence goes on between the government and the central bank. “Lot of discussions do take place,” he said. “Whether there is an individual letter or not, that is not really relevant. As and when any decision is taken RBI will not delay in announcing the decision.”
ON MSME LOAN RECAST
When asked about the RBI’s loanrestructuring window for MSMEs that was announced last week, Das declined to say whether such a move was retrograde or not. “It’s a value judgement. I don't want to go into the value judgement, whether it is retrograde or progressive. These are adjectives, I don’t want to go into that,” he said.
The Economic Times, 8th January 2019

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Budget: Startup sector gets new Fund of Funds, FM to allocate Rs 10K cr

  The Indian startup sector received a boost with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing the establishment of a new fund of funds (FoF) in the Budget 2025. The minister unveiled a fresh FoF with an expanded scope, allocating Rs 10,000 crore. The initial fund of funds announced by the government with an investment of Rs 10,000 crore successfully catalysed commitments worth Rs 91,000 crore, the minister said.   “The renewal of the Rs 10,000 crore commitment to the Fund of Funds for alternative investment funds (AIFs) is a significant step forward for the Indian startup and investment ecosystem. The initial Rs 10,000 crore commitment catalysed Rs 91,000 crore in investments, and I fully expect this fresh infusion to attract an additional Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh crore in capital,” said Anirudh Damani, managing partner, Artha Venture Funds.   Damani further added that this initiative will provide much-needed growth capital to early-stage startups, further strengthenin...

After RBI rate cut, check latest home loan interest rates of top banks for loans above Rs 75 lakh

  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced the repo rate by 25 basis points from 6.50% to 6.25% in its monetary policy review as announced on February 7, 2025. After the RBI repo rate cut, banks such as SBI, Canara Bank, PNB, and Union Bank among others have cut their repo linked lending rates. Most other banks are also expected to cut their lending rates in line with the RBI rate cut. After banks cut their lending rates, their home loan borrowers will have to pay less interest. Normally, when a lender cuts the lending rate, borrowers get two options: Either to go for a reduction in EMIs or reduce the tenure of the loan. The second option will help the borrowers clear their home loan outstanding faster. In case, the borrower goes for reduction in EMI then the lower lending rate of the lender would mean lower Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) for borrowers.   EMI is the amount you will pay on a specific date each month till the loan is repaid in full.A repo rate-linked home ...

GST collections rise 9.9% to exceed Rs 1.96 trillion in March 2025

  Gross GST collection in March grew 9.9 per cent to over Rs 1.96 lakh crore, government data showed on Tuesday. GST revenue from domestic transactions rose 8.8 per cent to Rs 1.49 lakh crore, while revenue from imported goods was higher 13.56 per cent to Rs 46,919 crore. Total refunds during March rose 41 per cent to Rs 19,615 crore. After adjusting refunds, net GST revenue stood at over Rs 1.76 lakh crore in March 2025, a 7.3 per cent growth over the year-ago period.       - Business Standard 02 th March, 2025