Securing a loan is a right: Chidambaram

Hinting at PSU banks, FM calls for change of attitude of treating fram loans as charity

Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said securing a loan was a right, akin to the rights to food and education.

With obvious reference to commercial banks, he said the attitude towards loans should be changed. “A farmer has a right to an agricultural loan,” he said, adding the youth had a right to loans to start their own enterprises. “If you are qualified and have the ability to repay, you have a right to get a loan,” he said at an event here to mark the inauguration of 300 bank branches in Uttar Pradesh.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, as well as senior bankers, including Bank of Baroda Chairman and Managing Director S S Mundra and State Bank of India Managing Director A Krishna Kumar, were present at the event.

The finance minister stressed the importance of educational loans. He said more educational loans would strengthen the country and every student had a right to these loans.

“Until December 2012, 2.5 million students had availed of educational loans in India, with the total outstanding at Rs 50,000 crore. This does not include loans already repaid,” he said.

He recommended educational loans be offered to the weaker sections, saying access to quality and higher education was not the prerogative of a few. People from all social strata had the right to aspire to good education for their children, he said.