Zafar Islam defends govt NBFID Bill in Rajya Sabha

Ravi S Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 25

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Syed Zafar Islam on Thursday defended the Union government's National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NBFID), Bill 2021, which was discussed in the House.

Countering reservations expressed by Congress' Jairam Ramesh about the Bill, Islam said the financial institution proposed in it was timely and topical.

"If not now, when?" was the gauntlet thrown by Islam to the Opposition benches while he recounted the virtues of the Bill and the institutional framework to finance long term infrastructure projects in the country.

Quoting the Spanish-American poet, philosopher and social reformer George Santayana, Zafar Islam said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to fail. He said this in the context that India has already suffered adversely and was lagging behind economically advanced countries in absence of a robust institution to finance infrastructural projects.

He said that the nationalised and traditional banks are not the right forum for lending long term loans. They are for the retail sector given their position of liquidity and cash-flow model.

He said that infrastructural projects have long gestation periods, and the banks are not in a position to park their liquidity for such a long span period.

Elaborating the issue further, he said it had been the bane of India for long in the past that banks were made to lend loans through influential interferences even for long term projects, and even ill-advised which were not sustainable. The loans were sanctioned without conducting feasibility reports.

Such loanees were not able to pay up the interests, or return the principal sum to the banks. Consequently, there was  ballooning of NPAs, and financial crisis to banks- a legacy of the UPA government  which was inherited by the Narendra Modi government

He said the proposed institution in the Bill will help the country garner funds available galore in international markets. International investors are also looking for assured investments in infrastructure projects. 

India is at a vantage point for a leap of faith, and leapfrogging in development of infrastructure. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to make the country modern, and infrastructure-heavy.

"India has a dream, and leader in Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to make the country a USD 5 trillion economy. Investment in infrastructure will help it make possible," Zafar Islam said.

Criticising the UPA regimes for having left a legacy of depressive economic affairs, he said the present government has made things look up, and bullish.

"Huge opportunity beckons India, and this is the best time to have such a platform proposed in the Bill," Zafar Islam said.