TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: First the short-term good news. For every 100 rupees that a truck owner owes to a nationalised bank for his mining loan, he will end up paying just Rs 39. This is how it works. The bank will waive of Rs 40. Of the remaining Rs 60, the State government will put in Rs 21 as subsidy (at 35% of Rs 60. With Rs 61 of every hundred rupees taken care of, he will pay just Rs 39.
The banks will end up receiving Rs 60 out of every hundred through the combination of the government subsidy amount and the truck owners own contribution, making everyone happy.
Now the bad news. According to senior officers of nationalised banks, all mining assets — mainly vehicles and equipment — are in a state of rot and decay. Some that can still be salvaged to get some life back in them are either sold or will be sold even to pay for the Rs 39 for every Rs 100. “But then what? The mining business will not be enough for them to take fresh vehicle loans. We will not give out a tsunami of loans. Every case will be scrutinized. But we don’t expect too many applicants”, said an AGM level officer of one of the nationalised banks, dealing with the mining portfolio of loans.
As Herald had earlier reported, if 8000 truck owners (and the actual number is higher) vie for the business of transporting 20 million tonnes of iron ore annually from the pits to the jetties or to the port, each truck owner will earn roughly Rs 64,000 per month. The senior-most regional officer of a nationalised bank told Herald “the EMI per month for a truck loan will be in the range of Rs 20,000 per month. With running costs of around Rs 35,000 per month, the truck owner has a mere Rs 10,000 buffer. ‘Sometimes not even that”, the bank officer interjected when Herald tossed these figures. “The person who takes a loan will have to earn somewhere else to service this”, the senior banker said.
The banks, meanwhile, are confident of the State government keeping their end of the bargain of subsidising Rs 21 per every Rs 100 or roughly 35% of the Rs 60 each truck owner has to pay per hundred rupees. The Rs 150 crore set aside for this is the confidence cushion the banks are resting. That has actually pushed the envelope and given the banks confidence to push hard for the One Time Settlement scheme to be approved by their respective boards. These approvals are expected shortly by SBI, Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank.
While Canara Bank has already closed 187 accounts through a an earlier 50% waiver combined with scheme loan repayment against pledged goals, substantially reducing it to Rs 86 crore exposure mainly on trucks, other banks like SBI and Bank of India have barge and machine exposures for which they are giving Rs 30 off on every Rs 100. Clearly a last swallow for everyone before a never ending summer of near mining drought.
