FM hits dirt road to ensure loan waiver

Rebukes bankers for their ‘conservative’ lending practices

BANGALORE: Four years ago, finance minister P Chidambaram and his convoy touched down on the hamlets in the outskirts of Bangalore with promises of easy credit.

On Monday, he met with a motley crowd of grape, flowers, and mulberry farmers with assurances their unpaid loans would be waived.

Chidambaram began his Monday morning on a dark note castigating bankers for their conservative lending practices towards small and medium enterprises.

An hour later, at the launch a life insurance venture, he lamented the country was underinsured.

And then he braved dusty roads and potholes in a spanking BMW to meet the kisans.

The visit would be a review of the loan-waiver programme, he told a battery of journalists, just in case they hoped he would entertain other queries on the economy.

Wholesale prices in India may be at a seven-year-high but the finance minister chose to dismiss questions on rising inflation as one would swat an irritant fly.

At Vijaya Bank’s Vidyanagar branch, some 20 km from Bangalore, Chidambaram began his routine for all afternoon.

He would dig through the records, check the calculations, extract assurances from the local manager there would be no mistakes, and then assure farmers their loans would indeed be waived.

Subsequently, they can avail of fresh loans.

And as it were to happen in three other branches —- one of Vijaya Bank and two of Canara Bank —- the message was similar.

“All eligible farmers will get benefit. No ineligible farmer will be benefited. The list will be put on the notice board. They can verify the list. There is a grievance redressal officer and he will look into it.”

And in case someone forgot, the loan waiver scheme was a gift from the United Progressive Alliance.

In each of the branches, Chidambaram assured the farmers that the local managers were on the ball. They have been fair and he doesn’t expect any mistakes even as each of the managers dressed up for the occasion looked around nervously.

Chidambaram said he expects about 300 farmers to benefit from the loan waiver scheme at each of the three branches.

The list will likely be displayed by the last week of the month, he told them.

Banks across India are expected to draw up the list of beneficiaries by month-end, he added.

Not every one seemed impressed.

An octogenarian grape farmer with craggy looks and vacant eyes wondered if his son would be rewarded for not having defaulted on his loans.

The family holds 2 acres of land and fully paid the Rs 2.12 lakh loan.

No answers came his way.

Along the way, the chairman and managing director of Vijaya Bank and local branch managers translated Chidambaram’s measured sentences, which were often greeted with synchronised applause.

A sycophant in one of the branches had ensured that a Chidambaram poster, hastily pasted on the wall, shared space with other leaders of free India.

At the Awadhi branch of Canara Bank, a bunch of Congress supporters chose to voice their appreciation for Chidambaram, which the finance minister chose to ignore.

Late May, Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in Karnataka, its first ever solo government in South India. At least two of the three branches that Chidambaram visited were located in constituencies that returned Congress legislators.

A journalist dared to ask Chidambaram the likely impact on government finances due to the loan waiver scheme.

“Don’t worry. We will take care of it.”