32: RBI names 30 major wilful defaulters; transparency or public shaming?

Mint Views Daily Dispatch

The Reserve Bank of India has released a list containing names of 30 major willful defaulters in response to a Right to Information application filed by online news publication The Wire. The Reserve Bank of India has released a list containing names of 30 major willful defaulters in response to a Right to Information application filed by online news publication The Wire. This may be in sync with the demands of greater transparency in matters of public interest. But it also effectively amounts to public shaming of the borrower, which could be a violation of a bank’s fiduciary duty to maintain privacy in third-party business dealings. After all, not all willful defaulters are guilty of financial wrongdoing. Some defaults may be due to genuine business failure. Such cases deserve a less harsh approach. Mint Views Daily Dispatch brings you scenes from the Mint edit table where ideas are mooted, discussed and debated before they make it to the coveted editorial page of the paper.