Project Sashakt: Several steps backward

There is no clarity on to how and why this will be different from the futile efforts of the last four decades in handling bad loans by government banks

India has probably lost count of the number of government committees set up to address corporate bankruptcy issues. We have had nine major government committees between 1964 and 2013, apart from several minor committees from time to time. One more committee headed by Sunil Mehta, chairman of Punjab National Bank, submitted its report last week to the energetic interim Finance Minister Piyush Goel, who labelled it Project Sashakt. Anyone who has some understanding of the bad loan situation and the pervasive government control over the financial system will see that the committee recommendations alone will do little to either reduce