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FM allays fear of ‘three Cs’ among bankers

6091
By IANS Updated: Dec 28, 2019 10:39 pm
2019 12img28 Dec 2019 PTI12 28 2019 000028B
Nirmala Sitharaman during a meeting with chief executive officers of public sector banks in New Delhi on Saturday. (PTI)

New Delhi, Dec. 28 (IANS): Allaying fears of CBI and other agencies popularly termed as ‘three Cs’ among bankers, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday reiterated that prudent commercial decisions would be protected.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), and Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) are commonly referred to as “three Cs”.

In a meeting with top bosses of the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and private banks, also attended by the CBI Director, Sitharaman assured the bankers that a distinction would be made between genuine commercial failures and culpability.

The minister said that in the recent past there had been concerns and worries among bank officials about investigating agencies hence impacting bonafide decisions. The minister said that bank officials feared uncalled for harassment but stated that now there was no reason to feel so.

“No case, no case whatsoever, involving the banks goes to CBI without the banks themselves deciding to send it here. There is no suo moto case which the CBI takes against the bank. So, let’s be very clear in the understanding that banks have an internal committee, which look at fraudulent practices in certain accounts or certain cases and they have well-defined protocol for it,” Sitharaman said after meeting with the bankers.

“When banks’ internal committee decide only then it goes for information to the Reserve Bank. Post that it gets referred to the CBI. And these are for Rs 3 crore or more suspicious fraudulent cases,” she added.

The Finance Minister said that CBI would develop a mechanism on the lines of Income Tax department to send notices or along with a registration number to avoid any scope of unauthorised communication and consequent harassment.

While pursuing criminal action against those responsible for fraud, the agency shall be sensitive to the distinction between a bonafide decision and criminal involvement.

“It was also noted that there is a need for preserving the value of the business enterprise by treating it on a separate footing from culpability of individuals, if any,” Finance Ministry statement said.

The CBI will also hold a couple of meetings and workshops together with bank officials in the next few months to explain various confusions and misgivings, officers from across various levels would participate in these workshops. It would create a dedicated phone number on which any person could give information regarding any undue harassment by the investigative machinery.

Platform for e-auction of PSB attached assets launched

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here on Saturday launched a common e-auction platform for assets attached by the public sector banks (PSBs).

The platform, equipped with property search features and navigational links to all PSB e-auction sites, provides single-window access to information on properties up for e-auction as well as facility for comparison of properties. It also contains photographs and videos of uploaded properties, according to an official statement.

The PSBs have attached INR 2.3 lakh crore plus assets over the last three financial years and to enable online auction by banks of attached assets for improved realisation, the platform has been launched.

As on December 27, the state-run banks have uploaded 35,000 properties on the platform, as per the statement.

The Finance Minister also met the PSBs chiefs on Saturday and discussed the impact of the government reforms measures and the health of banks.

The Ministry has also decided that the Department of Revenue (DoR) will notify RuPay and UPI as the prescribed mode of payment for undertaking digital transactions without any charge or merchant discount rates (MDR).

All companies with INR 50 crore or more turnover should be mandated by the DoR to provide the payment facility through RuPay debit card and UPI QR code to customers, it said.

All banks would start a campaign to popularise RuPay debit card and UPI, it added.

Govt. says PSB health restored, 13 banks report profit

The Ministry of Finance on Saturday said that the health of public sector banks which have been reeling under non-performing assets for the last few years has been restored and a total of 13 banks reported profits in the first half of the current fiscal.

Addressing the media after meeting the chiefs of public sector banks, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the reform measures undertaken by the government have helped bring the banks back to shape.

A statement from the ministry noted that the gross NPAs of the state-run banks have declined from Rs 8.96 lakh crore in March 2018 to INR. 7.27 lakh crore in September 2019.

“Extensive reforms carried out by the government have restored banks to health, with the gross NPAs of PSBs

declining from INR 8.96 lakh crore in March 2018 to INR 7.27 lakh crore in September 2019, their provision

coverage ratio rising to their highest level in seven years, and banks returning to profitability, with as many as 13 banks reporting profits in H1FY20,” the statement said.

It further said that with the Essar Steel resolution decision, banks have recovered INR 38,896 crore, in addition to INR 4.53 lakh crore recovered in the last four-and-a-half years.

It said that PSBs have attached assets worth over INR 2.3 lakh crore over the last three financial years.

Banks instructed to clear pending vigilance cases against officials

New Delhi, Dec. 28 (PTI): Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday instructed public sector banks to clear pending vigilance cases against their officials for alleged malpractices.

The minister also said no Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) charges will be applicable on select modes of payment from January 1.

The modes of payment will be notified soon, Sitharaman said after a review meeting with heads of public sector banks (PSBs).

In her Budget speech in July, Sitharaman had proposed to waive MDR charges to spur digital payments.

“I, therefore, propose that the business establishments with annual turnover more than Rs 50 crore shall offer such low-cost digital modes of payment to their customers and no charges or Merchant Discount Rate shall be imposed on customers as well as merchants.

“RBI and banks will absorb these costs from the savings that will accrue to them on account of handling less cash as people move to these digital modes of payment,” she had said.

6091
By IANS Updated: Dec 28, 2019 10:39:11 pm
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