PAC to summon bank officials over loans to Mallya

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament is likely to summon top officials of banks that provided loans to liquor baron Vijay Mallya.

The move is part of its deliberations on Non Performing Assets (NPA) of the public sector banks. The default of Rs 9,431.65 crore to a consortium of banks by Mallya had created a furore with the flamboyant businessman, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, leaving the country under controversial circumstances.

The PAC headed by Congress MP K V Thomas had suo motu taken up the issue of NPAs of public sector banks after reports emerged that it has touched Rs 3.61 lakh crore by December 2015.

While RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has provided his views to the panel on the issue, a senior member of the panel told DH that they now plan to call all the chiefs and top officials of banks that have to collect the dues from Mallya.

The idea is to understand the way loans were disbursed by banks, the checks and balances adopted by them and measures taken to reclaim the dues, the member said.

According to the information collected by the Rajya Sabha Ethics Committee, which is likely to expel him from the House, Mallya owed Rs 9,431.65 crore to 13 banks as on February 29. He owed Rs 2,350.34 crore to SBI, Rs 1,687 crore to JM Financial ARC, Rs 1,223.62 crore to IDBI and Rs 1,119.71 crore to Punjab National Bank. He owed another Rs 236.15 crore to SBI, Mysore.

The government lists that one of the main reasons for rise in NPAs is sluggishness in the domestic growth in the recent past, slow recovery in the global economy and continuing uncertainty in global markets.