In the wake of RBI’s decision to transfer Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the government as per the recommendations of the Bimal Jalan-led committee; and Modi Government’s the decision to merge 10 Public Sector Banks to carve out for large banks, a public debate titled ‘RBI’s Reserve Fund Transfer & Banks Mergers: A Loot or Boost?’ was organised by Financial Accountability Network India, a collective of civil society organisations, unions, people’s movements, students, teachers and concerned citizens to highlight the issues of accountability and transparency of the national financial institutions.
The meeting was addressed by Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary, CPI(M); Prof Jayati Ghosh, Centre For Economic Studies and Planning, JNU; Prof C P Chandrasekhar, Centre For Economic Studies and Planning, JNU; Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Senior Journalist and author; Dr Thomas Franco, Former General Secretary, All India Bank Officers’ Confederation; VK Tomar, Secretary-General, National Confederation of Officers’ Associations of Central PSUs; and Purushottam Sharma, CPI (ML).
Prof CP Chandrasekhar, in his presentation on the bank mergers, argued that the government doesn’t care about the long-term solutions and consequences of their actions. All they want is to be seen as doing something. He said, “The government has kept two relatively bad banks with one good bank. This new entity can’t lend more than their assets as apart from their assets bad loans also get added”