PAC summons four banks to find out big loan defaulters Parliamentary panel to visit Chennai Feb 27 and Kolkata March 1 to discuss bank NPAs
The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has summoned top officials of Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Allahabad Bank and UCO Bank to discuss their major loan defaulters and find out what action is being taken to recover the tax payer’s money.According to sources, the PAC, headed by Congress lawmaker K V Thomas, is keen to find out the details of huge loans given by the banks to corporates including the basis on which such favours were extended. The panel will further probe if the loan amount has been diverted by the defaulters for projects other than what they told the banks.
With banks not forthcoming in parting with information about the big defaulters, the PAC has decided to go beyond the national capital and meet the bank officials in Chennai and Kolkata.
As Indian Bank and Indian Overseas Bank are headquartered in Chennai, the officials will appear before the PAC in the Tamil Nadu capital on February 27. Later, the representatives of the Allahabad Bank and the UCO Bank will appear before the panel in Kolkata on March 1. Local officials of the finance ministry will also be present at the two meetings to hold informal discussions with the panel members.
Sources said the PAC, which usually reviews the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India presented to parliament, has identified bad debts or NPAs of public sector banks as a major task before it. The Chennai and the Kolkata visits mark the beginning of a sustained effort by the panel to address the issue, said the sources. Read more