New Delhi. Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission of India and former Vice Chairman of the country’s top economic think tank NITI Aayog, has advocated privatization of public sector banks after the general elections are over. Dr. Panagariya said in ‘Business Today’s ‘Banking and Economy Summit’ that if the present government returns to power once again after the general elections, then this should be on their agenda. Dr. Arvind Panagariya said in the conference organized at GIFT City, Gandhinagar that ‘In my opinion this is really a good opportunity. When banks are in good condition now.
Dr. Arvind Panagariya said that ‘government banks are flourishing right now, they have solid value. This is a good time to privatize. I think it is a good time, when the government comes back in its next term, it will seriously consider starting the privatization of some public sector banks. ‘ Dr. Panagariya served as the first vice-chairman of NITI Aayog and chaired it for two and a half years.
NPA was a big crisis for government banks
According to Dr. Arvind Panagariya, while earlier PSU banks were in serious trouble due to rising levels of non-performing assets (NPAs), this crisis has been resolved. By protecting them through government funding, the risk of their being undervalued is eliminated. Due to which the decision to sell the government’s stake in them could have been postponed. Presently PSU banks are performing well and their condition is good, which is an ideal time for their privatization.
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Privatization of banks is a long process
Arvind Panagariya said that ‘This is going to be a long process and all the PSU banks will not be privatized simultaneously. But the process must start. Because I still think that like manufacturing or other types of activities, banking also needs business pressure to become efficient. As privatization progresses, we can assess whether private banks are performing better than banks that were not privatized. Then take a decision on other banks at that level. But the process needs to start soon.
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Tags: 2024 Loksabha Election, Bank Privatization, Pm narendra modi
FIRST PUBLISHED: March 23, 2024, 18:15 IST