Vijay Mallya has been targeted by the ruling coalition and the opposition in recent months. (PTI photo)
Liquor baron Vijay Mallya was not given "a rupee benefit" by the Narendra Modi government but had received loans - that he later defaulted to repay - at the intervention of the previous Manmohan Singh government, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley asserted in the Lok Sabha today, laying the blame for the rising bank loan defaults at the doors of the Congress-led coalition government that was voted out of power in 2014.
Non-performing assets of banks, or defaulted loans, had risen by Rs 80,000 crore between July and September 2016 to Rs 6.3 lakh crore, according to official statistics.
But this did not mean, Mr Jaitley insisted, that the Modi government was at fault. Instead, it was the "indiscriminate" loans to select people and industries given out during the UPA government's tenure that was the root cause of the problem. "We are paying for your misdeeds," he said, turning to Congress lawmakers, during his reply to the debate on the Union Budget.
Mr Jaitley's defence of the banking sector's record after the NDA came to power in May 2014 was aimed at blunting the opposition attack on the government for the increase in NPAs. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi too had, in December, charged the Centre with giving a Rs 1,200-crore benefit to Mr Mallya, a reference to reports last year that the State Bank of India had written-off the loan to him.
Mr Mallya had flown out of the country in March 2016, and hasn't returned since then. An attempt to get him deported last year from the UK failed. Today, the Centre sent a formal extradition request to the UK government.
The founder of the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines has been targeted by the ruling coalition as well as the opposition in recent months, prompting Mr Mallya last week to compare himself to a 'football' being kicked around by "two fiercely competitive teams", a reference to the Congress and the BJP. A law suggested by Mr Jaitley in his Budget speech to enable the confiscation of assets of offenders, who leave the country, is widely believed to be inspired by Mr Mallya's case.
"Your allegation is that your sins have not been corrected and reversed by us. This cannot be a charge on us," said the minister, adding that most of the loans that were not being repaid were given between 2007 and 2009.
Congress leader M Veerappa Moily, later, brushed aside the minister's argument that he called the "height of irresponsibility". The former minister said NPAs amount to 4 per cent of bank loans in 2014, "but now it has grown to over 9 per cent on record. He (Jaitley) says it is because you have given the room. Is it a reason for a Finance Minister to give?"
(With PTI inputs)