Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that banks have recovered about Rs 13,109 crore from asset sale of defaulters such as embattled diamantaire Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and erstwhile liquor baron Vijay Mallya.
The assets have been seized by the Central agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
A British court has declared Vijay Mallya as bankrupt, paving the way for a consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) to pursue a worldwide freezing order to seek repayment of debt owed by the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
The 65-year-old businessman, meanwhile, remains on bail in the UK while a “confidential” legal matter, believed to be related to an asylum application, is resolved in connection with the unrelated extradition proceedings.
While Mallya owes over Rs 9,000 crore to a consortium of banks in principal and interest, diamantaires Nirav Modi and Choksi, who are the main accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case, have caused losses worth Rs 13,000 crores to the bank.
She also said that Rs 5.49 lakh crore have been recovered through the resolution of bad loans in the last seven years.
Elaborating on the cash balance with states, the finance minister also informed that states have substantial cash balance, only two states have negative cash balance.
Besides, the Lok Sabha earlier today cleared the second batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants authorising the government to spend an additional Rs 3.73 lakh crore during the current fiscal amid protest by the opposition over various issues.
The extra spending include infusing over Rs 62,000 crore into the company that holds residual assets and liabilities of Air India, Rs 58,430 crore by way of additional fertiliser subsidy, Rs 53,123 crore towards payment of pending export incentives and Rs 22,039 crore to rural development ministry for transfer to National Rural Employment Guarantee Fund.
