Jaitley: Govt not waiving loans of capitalists by banks

New Delhi Nov 28: Defending the government's move to tackle bad loans in the Indian banking system, Arun Jaitely said on Tuesday, that it cannot be construed as a waiver of loans of capitalists by banks.

The government has been criticized by opposition parties for introducing amendments to the insolvency and bankruptcy code 2016 through an ordinance.

The ordinance, which came into effect last week after receiving the President's nod, bars errant promoters of defaulting companies as well as guarantors to the debtor, directors in the companies and those with loans classified as non-performing assets (NPAs) for at least a year from regaining control of the assets being sold under the bankruptcy process.

"Government has not waived any loans of big NPA defaulters. On the contrary, under the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code brought by the Government, cases have been instituted in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for time-bound recovery from 12 largest defaulters in six to nine months, in NPA cases of Rs 1.75 trillion. Cases for the recovery of NPA dues from the assets of these big defaulters are under way at various stages," he said.