The government has yet to come out with reasons why Subramanian was removed from his post at the IMF six months ahead of the completion of his three-year tenure
NEW DELHI — The Congress has demanded an investigation into the purchase of two lakh copies of a book, “India @100: Envisioning Tomorrow’s Economic Powerhouse” by the Union Bank of India, at a cost of ₹7.25 crore.
The book is written by KV Subramanian, a former chief economic adviser to the Central government. His tenure as the executive director at the International Monetary Fund was recently cut short by the government.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC office here on Tuesday, party spokesperson and chairperson of the Social Media and Digital Platforms, Ms Supriya Shrinate, revealed that the public sector bank, Union Bank of India, had purchased two lakh copies of the book for a whopping sum of ₹7.25 crore. She said Subramanian was removed from his post at the IMF six months ahead of the completion of his three-year tenure. She added that the government has yet to come out with the reasons as to why his tenure was cut.
The senior Congress leader pointed out that Subramanian was the same person who repeatedly praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies, while shamelessly maligning previous governments. He appeared to be more interested in becoming a cheerleader for the government than serving as an economic adviser, she remarked.
“There are many such examples where advisors, RSS workers and Modi bhakts have been appointed to important positions. Prime Minister Modi has left no stone unturned in the last 10 years to create a battalion of “bhakts and trolls” to promote himself and spruce up his image. And he has spent crores of public money on his cheerleaders, from his best friend Gautam Adani to KV Subramanian, who voices the PM’s Mann Ki Baat more than economic rationale. New levels of corruption are being breached in “Amrit Kaal”!
Subramanian had previously attracted criticism for coining the concept of “Thalinomics” in the 2019–20 Economic Survey — a controversial metric meant to track the affordability of a meal. With the cost of a vegetarian thali having risen by 52% over the past year, many viewed the idea as trivialising the economic distress faced by the public.
Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Jairam Ramesh, have used the episode to renew their criticism of what they describe as the government’s culture of rewarding loyalty over merit in top appointments.
“This is yet another example of how public institutions have been co-opted to serve personal and political interests,” said Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh.
Pointing out that it was a conflict of interest, Shrinate asked whether Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman knew about it, since Union Bank of India is a PSU bank under the control of the finance ministry.
Shrinate asked whether Union Bank of India had taken approval from its Board of Directors for such a massive purchase involving such a large amount of money. She said the regional and zonal offices, which were assigned the task of promoting the sale of books, were asked to show the expenses under the ‘miscellaneous’ category.
She pointed out that it was depositors’ money and had not come from the BJP headquarters.
She disclosed that during the year 2023–24, ₹2,300 crore in penalties were charged from account holders with zero balance. She noted that these were individuals who could not maintain the minimum balance as they were struggling to make ends meet. Union Bank of India alone collected ₹126 crore as a penalty from such account holders, she added.
Shrinate asked the finance minister how such a conflict of interest was allowed. She also questioned whether it had anything to do with the extension of Union Bank of India MD and CEO Ms Manimekhalai, whose tenure is set to end this year.
On Pakistan seeking an IMF loan, Shrinate also referred to the neighbouring country having applied for a $1.3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund on April 29. She said the Congress had flagged the matter with the Government of India, urging it to prevail upon the IMF not to grant the loan to Pakistan, given its continued role in sponsoring terror in India.
She said the Government should aggressively pursue the matter with the IMF, and asserted that Pakistan must not get this loan at any cost.
