When people have wherewithal to pay, they must pay: PNB MD

Those who have the capacity must return their bank loans in the larger interest of the country, PNB Managing Director Usha Ananthasubramanian said on Tuesday after the bank declared the promoter of defunct Kingfisher Airlines, Vijay Mallya, as a wilful defaulter. “When people have the wherewithal to pay, they must pay. There are people who have money yet they don’t want to pay,” she said when asked about steps being contemplated by PNB to recover money from Kingfisher and deal with the problem of wilful defaulters. Punjab National Bank is the third public sector lender to declare the beleaguered air carrier and its two guarantors — United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd and Mallya — as wilful defaulters. Earlier, United Bank of India and State Bank of India had done the same. “Wilful defaulters also block your (banks as well as general public) access to finance,” Ananthasubramanian said.