Business failures should not be looked down upon: FM Nirmala Sitharaman on VG Siddhartha's death

NEW DELHI: Reacting to the death of Cafe Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said business failures in the country should not be tabooed or looked down upon.

Responding to the debate on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said that businessmen should get honourable exit or resolution to the problem in letter and spirit of the IBC.

"Business failures in this country should not be tabooed or looked down. On the contrary, we should give an honourable exit or resolution to the problem in letter and spirit of the IBC," she said referring to his demise.

Siddhartha's body was found on the banks of the Netravathi river in Karnataka on Wednesday.

In a letter purportedly written by him, Siddhartha alleged, among other reasons, harassment by the Income Tax Department as cause for his extreme step.

The IT department has denied the charges. Jayadev Galla (TDP) said businesses may fail because of economic downturn or business cycle. He also said that the accountability of banks needs to come under scrutiny.

"Signing of personal guarantee (by industrialist to take loan) is leading to taking extreme action like suicide," he asserted.

Kalyan Banerjee (TMC) said that those who have taken loans from banks will have to pay.

Pinaki Misra (BJD) referred to the death of the coffee tycoon, saying it is unfortunate that the insolvency law "should continuously continue to grow and expand in our country."

He said it does not bode well for the country because "that is not how you reach the USD 5 trillion mark."