New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, alleging that banks functioned one way for the influential and another way for ordinary citizens during Congress rule, has said that now ordinary people can easily obtain loans.
In a post on X today opposing the move to privatize IDBI Bank, Rahul Gandhi said, ‘IDBI Bank was created during Congress rule to build up the country’s industrial sector. During the Modi regime, however, the auction process was conducted first, and only then was the price determined.
Banks were established during the Congress rule. During Modi’s rule, they are being sold. I stand with the employees opposing the privatization of IDBI Bank,” he had said.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has responded to this post by Rahul Gandhi. In an X post she published on this, she said, “We all know how the Congress party used banks and financial institutions as if they were its own property, and how it pressured bank officials to lend to its favorites, ignoring proper lending norms.
When we took over the reins of government, IDBI Bank was in a very bad condition. The reason for this was that IDBI Bank was forced to lend to large business groups such as Videocon, Winsome, ABG Shipyard, and Kingfisher, which had close ties with Congress leaders.
All of these loans turned into non-performing assets and caused huge losses to IDBI Bank. We uncovered this fact.
The IDBI Bank has been revived and is now ready to move toward the next phase of growth, thanks to the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, its professional approach, prudent operations, and measures such as the reinfusion of capital of more than Rs. 25,000 crore.
All legal procedures have been duly followed in this restructuring of IDBI Bank. We clarified this yesterday.
The white paper on the Indian economy released in February 2024 details several examples of blatant fraud and economic mismanagement. That report remains relevant even today.
The lies you told in the Rafale matter were exposed and failed. For that, you had to apologize. The same thing is going to happen now as well.
During the Congress-era banking system, influential people had a phone-call-based access. For ordinary citizens, the rules were strict. The era of using influence to get loans is over.
Now ordinary people can easily get loans. There are no longer phone calls pressuring bank officials to sanction loans,” he said.