Raghuram Rajan Summoned by Parliamentary Committee to Give His Expert Views on NPA Crisis

New Delhi, August 20: A Parliamentary Committee headed by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi looking into the issue of non-performing assets (NPAs) has asked former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan to appear before it and brief on the matter. The letter from the committee to Rajan stated that the "committee admires his experience and knowledge and if he is unable to testify to the summons in person, the committee would like a written testimony of his expert view on the NPA crisis, how it has been created and how India should tackle it", according to reports. Raghuram Rajan Named by Financial Times as Possible Candidate for Bank of England top Job

The panel has already questioned senior finance ministry officials, including Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia and top brass of banks, about rising bad loans. Members of the panel also demanded various documents including minutes of the board meetings of the public sector banks, in which high-ticket value loans were approved. The banking sector is grappling with the rising non-performing assets, which touched Rs 8.99 trillion or 10.11 per cent of the total advances at December-end 2017. Of the gross NPAs, the public sector banks accounted for Rs 7.77 trillion.

Rajan, who was RBI governor for three years till September 2016, is currently the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at Chicago Booth School of Business. According to an India Today report, Rajan had taken an aggressive stand against bad debts owed by big corporates and he faced huge resistance from powerful corporate lobbies as he had suggested confiscating personal assets of promoters of companies that in future emerged as wilful defaulters.

(With inputs from PTI)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 20, 2018 04:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).