Banks recover Rs 13,100 crore from Mallya, Nirav, Choksi- Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that banks have recovered Rs 13,109.17 crore from asset sale of fugitives like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi  as of July 2021 as per the information provided by the Enforcement Directorate. The latest recovery was Rs 792 crore from the sale of assets belonging to Vijay Mallya and others on July 16, 2021, she added. Ms Sitharaman said this while replying to a discussion on the second batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants which was approved by the Lok Sabha amid uproar by the Opposition over various issues.

"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," she said. On the states' financial position, the Finance Minister said that the Centre in the first eight months of the fiscal has already transferred 86.4 per cent of what was provided in the full year 2019-20. Out of 28 states, only two states are having negative cash balance.

The Supplementary Demands for Grants authorised the government to spend an additional Rs 3.73 lakh crore during the current fiscal. The extra spending include infusion of 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 the National Rural Employment Guarantee Fund.

Responding to various issues, including price rise, raised by the Opposition during the debate, she said the government is taking measures to cool down prices of edible oil and other essential commodities. "We are taking measures through the EGOM (Empowered Group of Ministers) for taking care of essential goods. We will attend to the problem of edible oil price and also some of the essential edible items," she said.