Bank unions: FRDI Bill, threat to deposits of common man

The proposed bill that wants to convert deposits of common man into equity for the banks has endangered the safety of deposits of crores of customers and should be immediately withdrawn, a top bank union said on Sunday. Coupled with it, the proposals to merge and privatise nationalised banks will endanger the interest of retail customers, they warned.

CH Ventakatachalam, the general secretary of All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), said the bank deposits in the country worth around Rs110 lakh crore should be protected, which is possible only in a public sector.

"This is their hard earned savings. But the central government is bringing FRDI Bill which is trying to remove the safety of the deposits in the banks. Government should withdraw the FRDI Bill," said Ventakatachalam, who was in the city as a part of AIBEA's nationwide campaign to highlight and oppose the adverse banking sector measures of the government.

He said that under the guise of banking reforms, the government is trying to privatise and merge banks risking the collapse of banks as in cases of USA and other western countries. He suggested that banks should be encouraged and empowered to recover bad loans from the corporates and default be declared as a criminal offence. "Many of whom are willful defaulters. Taking huge loans and not repaying the same has become an exquisite art because these people know that nothing will happen to them and they will get the political patronage of the government," he said blaming bad loans for shrinking the liquidity of the banks.

It also demanded that just like employees and officials are held accountable, top executives of the banks should be held accountable while dealing with public money, as they are vested with huge powers for sanctioning big loans and also to write off the loans.