[Economy] Banking Amendment Bill: Issues, Features, Problems, Reforms meaning explained

1. What is Banking Regulation Act?
2. RBI Power #1: Can remove entire Board of a Bank
3. RBI Power #2: Connected Lending Prevention
4. RBI Power #3: Unclaimed Accounts
5. Public Banks Issue#1: Need consolidation
6. Public Banks Issue#2: Need more investment
7. Banks issue #3: More voting rights for investors
8. Foreign Banks Issue #1: Stampduty
9. Foreign Banks Issue #2: Want to invest in Commodity
10. Standing Committee problem
11. Issues raised in parliament
    1. #1: Commodity speculation
    2. #2: Competition Monitoring: RBI vs CCI
12. Anti-Bill arguments

Boring technical details intentionally skipped. I don’t do Ph.D on current affairs, neither should you.
What is Banking Regulation Act?
This act empowers reserve bank of India (RBI ) to regulate all public sector banks (SBI, PNB etc.) and private sector banks.(ICICI, HDFC etc.) in India.

Set : Finance Minister’s Office

Finance minister and RBI governor are holding a meeting.

RBI Power #1: Can remove entire Board of a Bank

RBI Power #2: Connected Lending Prevention

• Suppose Mr.Paraajay gets license to open a new bank.
• He opens Pawn-Fisher bank, people deposit their hard earned cash in it.
• Ideally, bank should lend this money to the home, car, education and business-loan seekers, who then pay interest and thus bank makes profit.
• Bank must make good profit, so It can pay 1) good interest rate to its bank account holders. 2) good dividends to its share holders.
• But Mr.Paraajay also owns another company, Pawn-Fisher airlines.
• And this airlines company is making losses. Mr.Paraajay gives loans from Pawn-Fisher bank to Pawn-Fisher airlines @very low interest rate, to fix the mess.
• And or, this Pawn-Fisher airlines gets the bank loan @market rates from the Pawn-Fisher Bank but it doesn’t pay EMIs regularly, yet the bank doesn’t take any action.
• Similarly, Mr.Paraajay also opens Pawn-Fisher Mutual funds, but it also makes losses, and money is transferred from bank deposits to mutual funds, to cover up those losses.
• These type of activities = Not good, because in long term, bank will collapse and depositors’ money will be stuck.

RBI Power #3: Unclaimed Accounts

• If Mr.X has not used his bank account for more than 10 years, it is called “unclaimed bank account.”
• There are crores of rupees in such unclaimed bank accounts, it increases the Administrative burden on bank employees (=need to maintain files etc)
• Plus there is also an opportunity to commit a fraud. for example some bank employee knows that Mr.X’s bank account is never checked, then he’ll forge checkbooks signature or some other trick to withdraw money from Mr.X’s account.

Public Banks Issue#1: Need consolidation

PSU Banks Issue#2: Need more investment

Banks issue #3: More voting rights for investors

Revised voting rights

Foreign Banks Issue #1: Stampduty

Foreign Banks Issue #2: Want to invest in Commodity

Standing Committee problem

• After a bill is introduced in parliament, it goes to the Standing Committee of Parliament for particular subject.
• for example Banking Regulation bill to Standing Committee on finance.
• They inspect the bill clause by clause, put forward their recommendations. And then voting is done.
• In case of Banking regulation bill, after the parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance put its report, Chindu added some new provisions in it.
• so opposition parties got angry “this wasn’t part of the original bill, if you want to add new provisions, then this bill must be sent back to the Standing Committee for re-consideration”.

Set: parliament

In the parliament, Opposition members are shouting slogans. (as usual)

Meera Kumar says “beth jayiye, beth jayiye, kripyaa shaant ho jayiye.”(please sit down, please sit down, as usual)

#2: Competition Monitoring: RBI vs CCI

Lok sabha passed the bill.

Rajya Sabha also passed the bill.

Now this bill file will goto President. Once he signs it, this bill will become a “Law”.

Anti-Bill arguments

In December, employees of public banks went on strike. (although SBI  employees did not join the strike.)

The Bank unions give following Anti-Bill arguments:

• Government claims “more banks = more branches = more poor people get banking facilities = financial inclusion”. But it is mere lip service. Because new corporate banks/foreign banks won’t have any interest in serving poor people.
• If mergers are allowed then rural branches will close down and/or rural banking operations will be outsourced via contractual business route.
• This type of ‘privatization’ will negatively affect our job security and interests of those poor people.
• Statistics indicate that only 50 percent of people in India have bank accounts.
• The Centre should focus on educating rural people and cultivating banking habit among them instead of taking steps to merge banks or diluting voting rights.
• Merger of banks will de-stablise public sector banks, then corporate firms will start their own banks and gobble up public savings. And that money will be misused for the benefit of few corporate honchos and not for the general public.

Although Chindu counters them saying “these banking reforms= new banks will be opened= more employment. (he expects 6,000 new bank branches and recruitment of 84,000 people next year.)

Critiques also argue that

• It seems the whole exercise is not a comprehensive banking reform but just firefighting because  1) Foreign banks and domestic players put pressure on FM to help them get bank licenses. 2) RBI blackmails FM to get more powers. 3) FM comes with banking regulation bill. Prime objective of this bill seems to help private players get new banking licenses.
• Government should further relax the voting rights otherwise, Government will keep abusing its majority shareholding to further its own political goals and election agendas.
• e.g. in 2008, public sector banks were asked to forgo farmers’ loans (Debt Waiver scheme). Although Government promised to refund the loan-money to banks on behalf of farmers but it is not a good business practice.

Summary

The Banking regulation bill, 2011 was passed in the Winter session of parliament in Dec.2012.

The salient features of the Banking regulation bill are (list not exhaustive)

1. RBI can inspect books of associate business arms of a bank.
2. RBI can supercede entire board of directors of a bank.
3. RBI can conduct special audits of cooperative banks.
4. Cooperative societies cannot carryout banking activities without license from RBI.
5. A “Depositor Education and Awareness Fund to receive money from deposit accounts not operated for more than 10 years.
6. Increased the penalties and fines for violating Banking Regulation Act.
7. Public Banks can obtain more capital via bonus shares and rights issue.
8. Increases the voting rights of shareholders in Public and Private sector banks.
9. Prior approval of RBI necessary if a person wants to purchase more than 5% shares of a bank.
10. Banking Mergers and acquisition will fall under purview of CCI.
11. Bank will have to pay penalty interest rate, if it doesn’t maintain CRR on daily basis.
12. Foreign banks exempted from stampduty payment for certain cases.