The government and the Reserve Bank will have to bring in a new set of regulations to ensure that borrowers repay their debt on time following the Supreme Court striking down an earlier rule of the monetary authority, Niti Aayog chief executive Amitabh Kant said on Wednesday.
Amidst a rash of announcements over income support schemes, the bureaucrat also stressed on the need to ensuring higher growth to fund such dole-outs.
With the Supreme Court striking down as ultra vires, the issue needs to be relooked by both the RBI and government to arrive at a new regulation that will ensure that financial discipline from borrowers should continue, he told reporters.
Speaking on the sidelines of a conference of the world federation stock exchanges here, Kant said such a move ensuring timely repayment and resolution of stressed assets is essential for long-term growth.
In what is being seen as a jolt to the bad assets resolution framework, the Supreme Court Tuesday quashed the stringent RBI circular which mandated banks to recognise even one-day defaults and finding a resolution within 180 days failing which the account in question has to be sent to bankruptcy courts if it is Rs 2,000 crore and above.
The unexpected ruling by a single judge bench of Rohinton Nariman has put a big question mark on the resolution of 70 large accounts which together owe the system over Rs 3.8 lakh crore.
Legal and industry experts have voiced concern over the order, stating that there was a marked change in borrowers behaviour after the circular was issued which would now change for the worse.
Meanwhile, on the rash of announcements on income support like the Congress promise of ensuring an annual income of Rs 72,000 each to 20 crore families through the Nyay scheme, which would involve an outgo of Rs 3.6 lakh crore per annum, Kant flagged the need to look at growth.
You cannot have redistribution without growth. If you dont grow higher you will not have surpluses to put into these schemes, he said, adding the country needs to grow at 9-10 percent as against the present 7 percent, to generate such surpluses.
We will have to focus more on manufacturing that will result in higher exports which deliver higher margins per unit of sale, he said, adding such a move will also create jobs as we cannot grow without jobs.
