Non Performing Assets (NPA)-the cancer of capitalism

Non-Performance Assets refer to loans and advances in the bank or lenders' books where no repayment of principal or interest is being received for 90 days in a row. The banks classify the NPAs into four categories, viz. Standard Assets that have been outstanding for 12 months or less with normal risk; Sub Standard Assets when the loans remain outstanding for more than 12 months and creditworthiness of the bower is weak; Doubtful Debts outstanding for over 18 months fall under this category the banks are doubtful of their recovery, and Loss Assets when the recovery seems impossible.?

How can a debt (Non-Performing Asset), a bad loan be an asset instead of being a liability instead? Who are these debts owed to, the corporations then how come it is the banks that are being considered and discussed as a problem rather than the corporations? Why should not be corporations under the lens instead of the banks to put the narrative in the proper perspective? Can these corporations be so ruthless and afford to indulge in such a luxury of not only getting away with cash and holding the banks as culprits and get the narrative turn around its tail without the connivance of the governments? Is it hard to see that some of the money is being passed out to the politicians as a bribe for political campaigns for elections?

It is the corporations that are benefitting from this NPA game plan. That is precisely the reason the corporations are getting more powerful than the governments. In such a scenario it is the democracies that are being rendered weak, meek and relegated and put on the back foot.?

It is a normal practice and a point law that the needle of suspicion always points to that person, party or entity that stands to gain from that particular illegal act or crime. Applying the same principle while analysing the issue NPAs it is the corporations who stand to gain and it is them that should be held accountable for and investigated not the banks as is the case now. The reason it is not happening is that the governments of the day are in the thick of the imbroglio for their immediate gains. But the governments and politicians keep changing every couple of years while the corporations still stay there and get more powerful every term and every election cycle.?

The main motive of the corporations is wholly and solely to make a profit. If the governments are being held hostage by the corporations as they fund their elections, how can you imagine that the governments are working for the citizens? The corporations are always on the lookout for opportunities that create uncertainties in the society like catastrophes, calamities, and epidemics like COVID-19 strikes while the public attention is somewhere else for their survival and organise food on the table. While millions of people died, lost houses, and lost jobs, the wealth of the corporations had quantum jumps.

According to an OXFAM report, “Power, Profit and the Pandemic - From corporate extraction for the few to an economy that works for all” the Global Fortune 500 firms increased their profits by 156% from USD 820 billion in 2009 to USD 2.t trillion in 2019. 32 companies from among the world's most profitable companies are expected to make USD 109 billion more during the pandemic than the average four previous years. 25 individual billionaires increased their worth by a staggering USD 255 billion between mid-March to late May. 2020.

An impression is given and perception is tried to be created by the corporate lobby that the corporations contribute through tax and philanthropy and social responsibility. The same report clearly bursts this myth: according to this report, the US government lost around $135 billion in revenue due to corporate tax avoidance in 2017 in contrast to their annual philanthropy of $billion only. By the same yardstick the 46 billion of corporate social responsibility in India as compared to the loss of 47 billion in government revenue due to corporate tax avoidance annual figure.