Time to bury Mudra 'loan mela'

The loan mela called Mudra was a populist and political move to give away money

A few days ago, Dinesh Khara, chairman of State Bank of India (SBI), told a publication that 20 per cent in its loan portfolio ofRs 26,000 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) scheme had turned bad. To readers of this column, this would not come as a surprise. Six years ago, when Mudra loans (collateral-free or unsecured loans of up to Rs 10 lakh extended to micro and tiny businesses) were launched, I labelled it another loan mela. These were the Central government’s effort to break the stranglehold of “greedy” moneylenders and “lazy” bankers and to provide money