'Not a single penny has been waived off': Javadekar hits back at Rahul's 'RBI List' attack

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday hit out at Rahul Gandhi after the Congress leader attacked the ruling BJP after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a list of 50 wilful defaulters accused of cheating banks, saying the government had hidden the list from Parliament because it included "friends" of the ruling party.

'Writing off isn't waiving off'

Speaking to news agency ANI, Javadekar said, "I was taken aback by Rahul Gandhi's comment that Modi government has waived off Rs 65,000 crores. Not a single penny has been waived off. Writing off isn't waiving off. Rahul Gandhi must take tuition from Chidambaram to understand the difference between writing off and waiving off."

He added, "Writing off is the process to show depositors correct pictures of bank. It doesn't stop banks from taking actions and pursuing recovery. We've seen how Nirav Modi's assets are seized and auctioned. Mallya is left with no choice but to come back as his appeal in High Court has been rejected." 

'This is why they hid the truth from Parliament'

"I asked a simple question in parliament - tell me the names of 50 biggest bank scammers. Finance Minister refused to reply. Now RBI has put names of Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and other BJP friends in the list. This is why they hid the truth from Parliament," the Congress MP had tweeted in Hindi along with a video.

Outstanding loans amounting to ₹68,607 crores of top 50 wilful bank loan defaulters in the country including firms of Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya have been technically written off till September 30, 2019, the Reserve Bank of India said in an RTI reply. Absconding diamantaire Choksi's company Gitanjali Gems tops the list of these defaulters with a whopping amount of ₹5,492 crores, according to the list. This is followed by REI Agro with ₹4,314 crore and Winsome Diamonds with ₹4,076 crores.

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Rotomac Global Private Limited has funded advances of ₹2,850 crores which have been technically written off and Kudos Chemie Ltd with ₹2,326 crores, Ruchi Soya Industries Limited, now owned by Ramdev's Patanjali, with ₹2,212 crores and Zoom Developers Pvt Ltd with ₹2,012 crores being the other companies. Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines figures in the list at number 9, with an outstanding amount of ₹1,943 crores which have been technically written off by the banks.

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(With PTI inputs)