NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that banks have recovered about Rs 13,109 crore from selling assets of willful defaulters like diamantaire Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and liquor baron Vijay Mallya.
“Public sector banks together have effected a recovery of about Rs 5.49 lakh crore over the last seven financial years. So, these people who are defaulters, who have fled the country, we have got their money back and put it to the public sector banks and therefore the banks are safer today,” Sitharaman told Lok Sabha during a debate over supplementary demand of grants.
The Lok Sabha earlier on Monday 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. Of which, she said, Rs 2.99 lakh crore is the additional cash outgo because of big ticket expenditure going for Air India and rise in fertilizer subsidy due to firming up of global prices.
“We have to ensure that the farmers don’t suffer because of it (rise in global prices). And therefore, increase in the subsidy for fertiliser has been provided, which itself is accounting for Rs 58,431 crore,” she said. Sitharaman also said that the government has so far paid around Rs 93,685 crore since 2014 for oil bonds. The government will have to pay till 2026 when oil bonds mature.