NEW DELHI: Rejecting leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi’s criticism on the condition of Indian public sector banks, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said public sector banks under the Narendra Modi-led government have only prospered, and are in much better conditions than in the UPA-era.
The finance minister, in her inimitable acerbic response to the leader of opposition, has said that under the Congress government, PSU banks were treated as ‘ATMs’ for their cronies and shady businessmen.
“It was actually during the UPA regime when bank employees were harassed and forced to give loans to cronies through “phone banking” by the then Congress-led UPA Govt functionaries,” she said in her response posted on social media platform X.
Gandhi after meeting a delegation of All India Banking Officers Confederation on Wednesday had expressed his concern over the ‘state of public sector banks and the impact of it on common people’. In a post on X, Rahul had said that public sector banks are being forced to prioritise profit over people and ‘are thus unable to serve the public effectively.’ He had also raised the issue of staff shortages and a toxic work environment in these banks.
Reacting to these allegations, Sitharaman late on Wednesday night said that Rahul Gandhi has the penchant for making baseless statements. She listed out the efforts of the Narendra Modi government over the past 10 years to bring the PSU banks back to financial health. She reminded the LoP that the Modi government recapitalised the state-owned bank by infusing Rs 3.56 lakh crore over the last 10 years.
On the issue of staff shortage, she said that PSU banks have recruited 3.94 lakh employees in the past 10 years. She also pointed out that the 17% increase in salary and allowances of bank employees as a result of the 12th Bipartite Settlement (BPS).