SUBSIDIZING PRIVATE BANKS?
When the government announced a scheme aimed at putting cash into BPL hands for two square meals a day, a cacophony of learned corporate intellectuals pontificated over the evil of such hand outs to the poor. Better, it was argued, to give that money to entrepreneurs and industrialists to set up units to provide jobs, instead of food protection. Many wondered whether that might not be a more effective way of taking the country forward. But then how many businessmen actually use their own money to start business? And are the numbers of jobs created worth the number of crores from public money in the banks? Also does industry really run on its own? The answer is a big NO, as evident from the enunciations of banking heavyweights from the private sector, the head honchos of the private banks who consider themselves a cut above nationalized banks and of SEBI, the bastion of those with investable surpluses. On May 3 rd , 2013, the Reserve Bank of Ind...