New Delhi, March 13 The Congress has slammed the government on the Yes Bank bailout by State Bank of India and for extending the moratorium to telcos and passing the burden to the customers.
The Congress' allegation comes in the wake of Union Cabinet on Friday approving a reconstruction plan for crisis-hit Yes Bank, under which the State Bank of India will pick up 49 per cent of the equity, while private investors will be allowed to buy the rest.
The Congress alleged that to bail out Yes Bank the government is cutting interest rates in the saving and FD accounts of the customers. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said "the government is cutting the interest on Rs 7,000 crore of 44.51 crore customers and saving Yes Bank."
The Congress said that for saving accounts, the interest rate has been reduced from 3.25 to 3 per cent and the interest on fixed deposits has been lowered to 10 to 50 basis points which means 0.25 to 0.50 per cent. The total loss in interest would be around Rs 7,000 crore.
"On one hand common people are being cheated and on the other hand, they have been made sacrificial lambs to pay the price of loot by others and why did you cut interest rates of SBI account holders to revive Yes Bank? Why not use your funds?" asked Chowdhury.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Cabinet decided that the SBI will hold at least 26 per cent stake in the private bank for a minimum period of three years. Similarly, the other investors will also be mandated to have a similar lock-in period for 75 per cent of their investment in the bank.
The Congress has alleged that pre-paid telecom subscribers and common depositors are going to be victimised by the government.
"The government is cheating them to safeguard their crony capitalists. 112 crore pre-paid users are being cheated and the companies will make money of Rs 1,60,000 crore," alleged Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.
( With inputs from IANS )