According to sources, the two-day meeting will start from November 17 and there will be a comprehensive review of progress in various sectors, government schemes. Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
Apart from bankers, top officials from various ministries will participate with banks to highlight key issues and suggest ways to facilitate the process.
Top officials from infrastructure ministries, agriculture and allied departments will attend the meeting, organized by the finance ministry.
Considering the importance of the banking sector in generating demand and boosting consumption, sources said the meeting with MDs and CEOs of public sector banks is considered important.
The meeting is taking place at a time when banks are undertaking outreach programs to promote lending to productive sectors of the economy.
Since the launch of the government’s nationwide credit outreach program on October 16, banks have sanctioned 13.84 lakh loans totaling Rs 63,574 crore through 10,580 camps conducted across the country till October 31.
According to data shared by the Finance Ministry, about 3.2 lakh beneficiaries were sanctioned Rs 21,687.23 crore in business loans, while vehicle loans worth Rs 4,560,39 crore were sanctioned to 59,090 borrowers.
The meeting is expected to take stock of the banking sector, progress on the Restructuring 2.0 scheme announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), sources said, adding that the Rs 4.5 lakh crore Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) will also be added. reviewed during the meeting.
Besides, the Finance Minister is expected to take stock of the bad loans or non-performing assets (NPA) position and discuss various recovery measures by banks, he said.
As a result of Government’s strategy of Recognition, Resolution, Recapitalization and Reforms, NPAs have come down to Rs 7,39,541 crore as on March 31, 2019 from Rs 6,78,317 crore as on March 31, 2020 and further increased to Rs 6,16,616 crore has gone. March 31, 2021 (provisional data).
Also, comprehensive steps were taken to control and effect recovery in NPAs, enabling PSBs to recover Rs 5,01,479 crore in the last six financial years, the government informed Parliament recently.
To allay apprehensions among bankers, the Finance Ministry recently released a uniform ‘Staff Accountability Framework’ for NPA accounts up to Rs 50 crore.
In order to protect honest bank employees, the government has come up with a framework under which the concerned officials will not be harassed in case of genuine decisions involving loans up to Rs 50 crore.
As per the norms issued by the Finance Ministry, the framework will cover only genuine decisions and not those with malafide or malicious intent.
It specifies the details and procedures for investigation of such acts of omission and commission on the part of the concerned bank officials.
To save them from unnecessary hassle, the framework also provides for settlement of such cases against bankers.
“Banks should initiate and complete the exercise of accountability of employees within six months from the date of classification of the account as NPA,” the ministry said.
Several senior bankers have been arrested in the past for non-payment of loans.