PM Modi assures protection of bank deposits

Sanjeev Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 13

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said rumours are being spread about the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill at a time when the government is working to strengthen the framework to protect bank deposits.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Addressing the 90th Annual General Meet (AGM) of industry chamber, FICCI, the prime minister said in the last few days there have been rumours and misgivings being spread when the government is taking steps to restore the health of the banking system.

The prime minister alleged that the biggest scam of the previous UPA government was the non-performing assets (NPA) scam when banks were pressurised to give loans to select industrialists.

Modi said this scam was bigger than the coal, Commonwealth Games and 2G scams which took place during the tenure of the UPA government.

He said the UPA government gave loans to few industrialists by putting pressure on banks in contrast to the current government which is giving loans to the youth entrepreneurs.

Modi asked if FICCI had done a survey on how the previous government destroyed the banking system.

He added that huge NPAs which are being talked about now are the biggest liability that the “economists” in the UPA government had given to the current government.

He alleged that the UPA government stole the hard earned savings of the common man by giving away such loans and at that time all the institutions knew that something wrong was going on.

The prime minister said the aspirations of people are high and people are exasperated with corruption and black money.

He added that for every political party and institution, it is time for introspection on how to meet the expectations.

He added that the government is working to reduce the fight of the common man against the system for basic needs.

He said 87 important reforms in sectors including in defence, financial sector and food processing have been taken up in the last three years.

The government has attempted to frame policies keeping in mind the aspirations and needs of the people, he said.

More than 3 crore women have been given free cooking gas LPG connection. After this, fuel inflation has dropped in rural areas, he said.

“We are trying to solve problems of poor after identifying their problems”, he said.

Under the Mudra scheme, over Rs 4 lakh crore guarantee-less loans have been given to about 9.75 lakh youth for business, leading to 3 crore new entrepreneurs being created since launch, he said. — With PTI inputs