Wilful bank defaulters

With reference to ‘Don’t Compromise with the wilful defaulters’, for a busy banker it’s very difficult to monitor on a daily basis the end use of advances particularly the working capital limits of the borrowers.

Siphoning of funds by delinquent borrowers itself should be a cause enough to initiate criminal action for breach of trust.

The proposed draft RBI mechanism inviting public suggestions for identifying wilful defaulters by a committee and also provision of review will only breed delays to take such defaulters to the book.

RBI instead should along with banks strengthen the monitoring mechanism of the loans and limits given.

Brij Bhushan Goyal

Ludhiana

Apropos the article ‘Don’t compromise with wilful defaulters’ (October 9), the RBI’s proposed/draft direction to banks to enter into compromise with wilful defaulters may prove to be toxic for the banking system and its financial discipline may go for a toss.

It would not only encourage the unscrupulous and fraudulent elements to exploit the banking system by availing loans “with clear intention not to repay” by making false claims, but also demoralises other borrowers who make timely repayments.

Wilful defaulters should be treated with iron hand and should be put through the rigorous measures of recovery, including the legal methods, to send a strong message to all the borrowers that the banks do not tolerate wilful defaulters.

Kosaraju Chandramouli

Hyderabad

Ebbs and flows

With reference to the article ‘India and America: Love is in the air’ (October 9), given a history of bipartisan support to India by the US, the earlier visit by PM Modi could find the content qualitatively different, in particular the US willingness to share technology, to counter China’s dominance in manufacturing and trade. The convergence of Indo-US interests is far greater today than before.

That said, such Indo-US economic bonhomie is sure to ruffle China’s feathers which could result in greater Chinese belligerence on the borders. With US now parallelly set on defrosting its icy relations with China, a Biden-Xi meet being on the cards, our relations with Beijing would need even greater dexterity. This would entail adept balancing between Washington and Beijing. Modern era economics comes intricately entwined with politics.

R Narayanan

Navi Mumbai

AI and mental health

This is with reference to the article, ‘Disruptors who heed the cry for help’, (October 9). India is a country with a population of 1.4 billion has about 7,000-8,000 psychiatrists, 8,000-10,000 psychologists and 3,000-4,000 other mental health professionals. About 75 per cent of these are in the metros and big cities while the rest of the country is largely underserved.

As AI techniques continue to be refined and improved, it will be possible to help mental health practitioners re-define mental illnesses more objectively than currently done in the DSM-5, identify these illnesses at an earlier stage when interventions may be more effective, and personalize treatments based on an individual’s characteristics. However, caution is necessary in order to avoid over-interpreting preliminary results, and more work is required to bridge the gap between AI in mental health research and clinical care.

P. Sundara Pandian

Virudhunagar (TN)

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