Heads of 11 state-run banks to appear before parliamentary panel today

Top officials of 11 state-owned banks will appear before a parliamentary committee on Tuesday to apprise its members of the bad loan issues and rising fraud cases in the banks, sources said.

These officials will be appearing before the Standing Committee on Finance headed by Congress leader M Veerappa Moily. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is also a member of the panel.

The committee is looking into the issues and challenges being faced by the banking sector.

Top officials of IDBI Bank, UCO Bank, Central Bank of India, Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Dena Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Bank of Maharashtra, United Bank of India, Corporation Bank and Allahabad Bank will make presentations before the panel and respond to its queries on June 26, said sources.

The banking sector is grappling with rising non-performing assets (NPAs), which touched Rs 8.99 lakh crore or 10.11 per cent of total advances at December-end 2017.

Of the total gross NPAs, the public sector banks accounted for Rs 7.77 lakh crore.

The rising number of frauds has become a serious cause of concern.

The number of frauds reported by banks increased from 4,693 in fiscal 2015-16 to 5,904 in 2017-18. The fraud amount at end-March 2018 was Rs 32,361.27 crore, up from Rs 18,698.8 crore at the end of 2015-16.

Earlier this month, RBI Governor Urjit Patel had replied to a host of questions asked by the committee members.

Patel, sources had said, was asked about bad loans, bank frauds, cash crunch and other issues.