NEW DELHI: The Finance Ministry is bracing for tough questions as the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance is set to meet its officials on Tuesday regarding the issue of non-performing assets, issue of governance and the status on the probe in various banking frauds.According to sources in the Ministry, the Committee, headed by senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily, will deliberate on Non-Perorming Asset (NPA), in light of the revised guidelines by the RBI.
“The top agenda, which is likely to figure at the meeting, will be NPA issue and the government action on the series of frauds reported by both public and private sector banks. We also expect the issue of leadership at the banks, including ICICI Bank, is likely to figure out in the discussion,” a senior official told TNIE.
The meeting assumes significance, as bankers feel that the RBI revised guideline giving a 180-day resolution plan for NPAs under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is “too less”.
Many bank officials are of the view that the guideline is too harsh and will impact the lending to key sectors, which will be negative for the industries that are just recovering from the aftermath of demonetisation and the GST rollout.While the RBI had kept its stance firm in the backdrop of rising NPAs, the Finance Ministry feels that the stand needs to be softened and that referring cases for a resolution under the IBC should be the last option. In this context, the stand of the Committee holds importance.In March, the Parliamentary Committee had questioned the Finance Ministry officials about the Punjab National Bank fraud and had also asked them to submit a report about it.
Likely agenda of the meeting
Revised guideline of RBI regarding NPAs of banks
Status report on action taken against the fraud hit banks
The issue of leadership at public sector banks
The recent case of impropriety at the ICICI Bank