Naming black money depositors is a stunt, says Venkatchalam in Bhopal

The revelation of names of businessmen who have deposited their money in Swiss banks is just a publicity stunt of Centre and it wouldn't resolve the issue of black money, said CH Venkatchalam, general secretary of All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA). Venkatalachalam was in Bhopal to attend the 16th Conference of All India Oriental Bank Employees’ Federation at Samanvay Bhavan on Sunday.

"The Swiss banks are not the only places where black money has been deposited. There are many banks in India, too. Similarly, we can't say only black money has been deposited in Swiss banks. If the government really wants to deal with the problem, they should introduce strict taxation policies," he said. Like black money, non-performing assets (NPA) is another major problem in India, the AIBEA general secretary said.

"The bad loans of crore of rupees is responsible for poor health of banks. Despite capable of repaying the loan, there are people who are rising burden of crore of rupees on the bank voluntarily. There is a need to take strict action against these defaulters because they are like termite," he added.

Venkatchalam said bad loans are also affecting the life of employees. "Bank employees' wage revision has been pending for the past two years as Indian Bank Association (IBA) is passing the problem of bad loans on employees. Whenever, we hold discussion with IBA, they said the Central government is not responding on it. Instead of introducing strict laws on bad loans, the government is showing apathetic attitude towards bank employees."

Discussing new policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Venkatchalam said, "Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in most of the sectors will not go in favour of country. The presence of FDI should be permissible only in the sector where we don't have enough knowledge and sources but FDI should not be allowed in the sector like defense and retail."