The All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) has demanded that the Centre empower the Reserve Bank of India to publish the list of defaulters who owe the banks in excess of Rs 1 crore.
This is among the demands listed in the Budget wishlist to be submitted by the association, which claims to represent the interests of a million bank employees working in public sector banks, private banks, foreign banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks.
PUBLISH DEFAULTERS' LIST
A deafulters' list should be published every six months with updates. Wilful defaulters should be prohibited from contesting elections - local, legislative or Parliament. Those holding high office should be asked to relinquish their positions.
Fast-track courts should be vested with more powers to recover bad loans and stringent laws enacted to ensure more recovery. Asset reconstruction companies should be closed down; instead, focus should be on recoveries.
Banks should be advised to institute a separate vertical headed by a General Manager for recovery of 'prudentially written off/technically written off' accounts, C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary, AIBEA, said.
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The association has further demanded that details of such recovery should be placed before the boards of the banks and submitted to the Ministry of Finance on a quarterly basis.
ENSURING ACCOUNTABILITY
Laws should be amended to confiscate the assets of directors in case of default by a company, the AIBEA demanded.
Managing Directors & CEOs/ Managing Directors/ Executive Directors of public sector banks should be made accountable and responsible in respect of sanction of credit that ultimately gets categorised as distressed assets/quick mortality cases.
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Periodical reviews should be initiated to identify persons whose debts/ loans have been written off with interest. Corporate houses raising external commercial borrowings should be monitored to check if rules have been adhered to.
Wilful default of bank loans should be declared a criminal offence through suitable amendment law. More debt recovery tribunals and fast-track courts need to be set up to recover high-volume bad loans.
The government should hold full control of public sector banks with 100 per cent equity holding and should not disinvest from them. It should ensure adequate capital with hassle-free infusion to help these banks tide over the immediate crisis.