New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Reserve Bank of India after the central bank claimed that it cannot reveal details of the loan defaulters. "You are the watchdog, a regulator. On one hand people taking thousands of crores, running empires and turning insolvent and the matter goes on. On the other hand a farmer takes a few thousands of rupees and if he is unable to repay the loan, his property is attached," the SC said.
SC also said it needs to be satisfied that all that needs to be done is being done.
RBI in turn informed the SC that if the aggregate amount of NPAs (bad loans) is disclosed, it will have an impact on the economy.
The SC was hearing a petition, which was filed in 2003 by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL). It had originally raised the issue of loans advanced to some companies by state-owned Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO). The plea had said that about Rs 40,000 crore of corporate debt was written off in 2015.
The bench, which expanded the scope of the PIL, impleaded Ministry of Finance and Indian Bank's Association as parties posted the matter for further hearing on April 26.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had directed the RBI to provide a list of companies which are defaulters of bank loans of over Rs 500 crore while expressing serious concern over the rise in bad loans.
The apex court had also asked the RBI to provide within six weeks the list of companies whose loans have been restructured under corporate debt restructuring schemes.
The bench had expressed surprise that no concrete steps were taken for the recovery of loan from the defaulters. While passing the order, the court had taken note of a report in a national daily about bad loans or non-performing assets (NPA) and the inability of the banks to recover them.
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