Article: PM Modi has brought the RBI on the doors insolvency, says a prominent economist
Syed Ali Mujtaba
An Indian Economist Vijay Ghorpade, has rang an alarm bell claiming that PM Modi has left Reserve Bank of India at the doors of insolvency.
The Modi government has taken ₹1.65 lakh crore from the RBI for the 2024 Lok Sabha election and now the RBI’s reserves have come down to ₹30,000 crore, the economist claims.
According to Vijay Ghorpade, not many know that before 2014, no government had ever taken the entire ‘surplus money i.e. the total profit’ from the RBI. The governments have only taken a portion of its dividend but the Modi government has demanded such an enormous amount that has left the RBI in red.
In 2018, when Urjit Patel was the Governor of the RBI, the Modi government demanded all the profit money from the RBI but Patel refused, leading to his resignation.
The Modi government then established a 6-member committee under the chairmanship of former RBI Governor Bimal Jalan, which paved the way for gaining funds from the RBI.
Earlier the maximum amount given by the RBI was about ₹50/55 thousand crore which was its dividend. Even during the Bangladesh War, the RBI had given only ₹50 thousand crore to the Indira Gandhi government which demanded ₹70 thousand crore from the RBI.
Vijay Ghorpade says the current condition of the RBI is so bad that it does not have the expected profit and whatever little the BJP government takes there.
The economist compares the eight years of former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh from 2006 to 2014 with that of Modi from 2014 to 2022 and says, it becomes evident that during Dr. Singh’s tenure, the government took only ₹1,01,679 crore from the RBI. In contrast, during Modi’s tenure, the amount was 5,74,976 crore which is five times more.
The situation is so grave now that the RBI is not in a position to save the sinking banks in India. Lakshmi Vilas; Yes Bank; DHFL are all in red. Lakshmi Vilas was sold to a Singapore bank. Yes Bank and DHFL are on the verge of privatization.
The Economist further informs that the Modi government has not only changed the rules of the RBI for itself but also changed laws for the corporates and companies as well.
During the Modi rule some 50, 000 companies have gone bankrupt and with that banks’ loans have sunk but instead of finding solutions, the Modi government has allowed 70 thousand new companies to operate allowing them to apply for new loans. This is the new economic policy of the Modi government, says the social activist and follower of Dr. Ambedkar.
The economist further informs that since the past 6 months, the inflation index has been rising but the government has neither questioned the RBI nor the RBI has provided any explanation. This is because the RBI board is appointed by the government that’s supporting the government and hence the blame game is moving in circles.
The allegation against the BJP government of indulging in systematic corruption stands vindicated with such glaring examples of economic culpability.
The economist warns that the economic situation has become so grave that now India is being compared with Srilanka. Yet none can question the economic policy of the government because the Modi government wants them to remain engrossed in defending the Hindu faith rather than thinking about the perilous economic situation in the country.
Dwindling economic conditions in India and corruption were the main issues in the regime change in 2014, the situation in 2024 is much worse, but will the regime change in such adverse conditions, or will Hindu religious nationalism save the sinking boat of the Modi government is something that remains to be seen.
Economist Vijay Ghorpade belongs to the Republican Sena, a political party founded by Anandraj Ambedkar the grandson of B. R. Ambedkar.
(The writer is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com)
