Banks recovered over Rs 13,000 crore from asset sale of fugitives: Finance Minister

Banks have recovered over Rs 13,000 crore from asset sale of fugitives including Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, says Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. She said the public sector banks together have affected a recovery of about Rs 5.49 lakh crore over the last seven financial years.

“People who are defaulters, who have fled the country, we have got their money back and put it to the public sector banks and therefore the banks are safer today,” Sitharaman said. According to the information provided by the Enforcement Directorate, a total of Rs 13,109.17 crore has been recovered from the asset sales of Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi as of July 2021. The Finance Minister highlighted that the latest recovery was Rs 792 crore from the sale of assets belonging to Mallya and others on July 16, 2021.

In regards to the States’ financial position, Sitharaman said the Centre in the first eight months of the fiscal has already transferred 86.4% of what was provided in the full year 2019-20. “From the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), funds are being provided and providing an extra Rs 15,000 crore for emergency COVID-19 response. The financial position of the States is also reflected in the fact that the overall cash balance of States as of November 30, 2021 was Rs 3.08 lakh crore, approximately, fairly comfortable positions.”

The minister said States are having substantial cash balances with them, and there are only a few exceptions. She highlighted that out of the 28 States, only two States are having negative cash balances.

In regards to issues such as price rise, Sitharaman said the government is taking measures to cool down prices of edible oil and other essential commodities. “We are taking measures through the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) for taking care of essential goods,” she said. “We will attend to the problem of edible oil price and also some of the essential edible items.”

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The minister added that the government has, so far, paid around Rs 93,685 crore since 2014 for oil bonds. “I would like the nation to remember that issuing bonds and loading deficits on oil companies is not a permanent solution to this problem. We are only passing our burden to our children who will have to repay this debt.”