BJP slams Congress over Jairam Ramesh targeting government on foreign firms 'acquiring' Indian banks

New Delhi: The BJP on Sunday slammed the Congress over Jairam Ramesh targeting the government over foreign firms acquiring banks in the country and said the party that presided over the "worst banking crisis" in independent India is in no position to lecture anyone on prudence.

Ramesh, the Congress general secretary in charge of communications, said foreign firms gradually being allowed to acquire Indian banks was "imprudent" as it poses substantial risks and recalled that the Jan Sangh had criticised then prime minister Indira Gandhi for not nationalising foreign banks in July 1969.

"First, Laxmi Vilas Bank was acquired by Singapore's DBS Group. Second, Catholic Syrian Bank was acquired by Canada's Fairfax. Third, Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation took over Yes Bank. Now comes news that Dubai's Emirates NBD is acquiring RBL Bank," the Congress Rajya Sabha MP said in a post on X.

"And, of course, India's first full privatisation of a public sector bank is expected to be completed in this financial year. This is the sale of IDBI Bank," he added.

Hitting back at Ramesh, BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said it's "a bit rich" to hear lectures on banking prudence from the man whose party "scripted the collapse of India's banking system".

"Under the UPA, Indian banks were reduced to political playthings -- phone-a-bank cronyism flourished, bad loans exploded, scams multiplied, and the twin balance sheet crisis brought the entire financial sector to its knees," he said.

Malviya alleged that the Congress orchestrated the "rot in the system".

"Even your fanboi, Raghuram Rajan, has confirmed that bad loans which plagued banks were largely sanctioned during the UPA era," the BJP leader said, adding, "The party that presided over the worst banking crisis in independent India is in no position to lecture anyone on prudence."

The BJP leader termed Ramesh's comments on the issue as "empty rhetoric" and cited government data to underscore a "remarkable transformation" in India's public sector banks under the Narendra Modi government.

"When the UPA exited office in 2014-15, net NPAs of PSBs stood at Rs 2.15 lakh crore (3.9 per cent), and provision coverage was a pathetic 46 per cent. Today, after a decade of relentless clean-up and reform, those numbers tell a story of remarkable transformation in India's public sector banks," he said in a post on X.

"Net NPAs down to just Rs 0.73 lakh crore (0.76 per cent). Capital adequacy up from 11.45 per cent to 15.55 per cent. Provision coverage doubled from 46 per cent to 93 per cent. Aggregate net profits surged from Rs 0.45 lakh crore to Rs 1.41 lakh crore," Malviya said.

This "turnaround" is the result of tighter RBI regulation, stronger governance frameworks, IBC-driven recoveries, and deep structural reforms, he said, adding that the Indian banks today are robust, profitable, and globally respected -- the polar opposite of the mess that the Congress had left behind.

"And let's clear another distortion: investments and operations of Scheduled Commercial Banks are subject to strict RBI oversight and fall squarely within India's calibrated approach to financial sector globalisation," Malviya further said.

He added these aren't "reckless giveaways".

"They are signals of global confidence in India's banking system, a confidence unimaginable under your watch when foreign investors were fleeing the country. So spare us the sanctimony," the BJP leader said.

"Under PM Modi, India's banks are no longer 'phone-a-bank' ATMs for the well-connected. They're strong, profitable institutions powering a USD 4 trillion vibrant economy," he added.