The Invoice piloted by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was accepted by a voice vote.
New Delhi:
The Lok Sabha on Tuesday handed the Banking Legal guidelines (Modification) Invoice, 2024, which permits checking account holders to have as much as 4 nominees of their accounts.
One other proposed change pertains to redefining ‘substantial curiosity’ for directorships, which may enhance to Rs 2 crore as an alternative of the present restrict of Rs 5 lakh, which was mounted virtually six many years in the past.
The Invoice piloted by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was accepted by a voice vote.
Replying to the controversy on the Invoice, Sitharaman mentioned depositors can have the choice of successive or simultaneous nomination facility, whereas locker holders can have solely successive nomination.
She additionally mentioned that since 2014, the Authorities and the RBI have been extraordinarily cautious, in order that banks stay steady.
“The intention is to maintain our banks secure, steady, wholesome, and after 10 years you might be seeing the end result,” Sitharaman mentioned.
The invoice proposes to extend the tenure of administrators (excluding the chairman and whole-time director) in cooperative banks from 8 years to 10 years, in order to align with the Structure (Ninety-Seventh Modification) Act, 2011.
As soon as handed, the invoice would permit a director of a Central Cooperative Financial institution to serve on the board of a State Cooperative Financial institution.
The invoice additionally seeks to present larger freedom to banks in deciding the remuneration to be paid to statutory auditors.
It additionally seeks to redefine the reporting dates for banks for regulatory compliance to the fifteenth and final day of each month as an alternative of the second and fourth Fridays.
“The proposed amendments will strengthen governance within the banking sector and improve buyer comfort with respect to nomination and safety of buyers,” Sitharaman mentioned whereas shifting the invoice for consideration and passing.
Opposition members fiercely criticised the invoice with TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee describing it as a “donkey passage in direction of privatisation of the Indian banking sector”.
Whereas the invoice ostensibly seeks to enhance financial institution ensures and investor safety, its actual intent is to scale back the federal government’s minimal holding in public sector banks from 51 to 26 per cent, he argued.
Banerjee additionally flagged cybersecurity considerations, emphasising the necessity for sturdy IT techniques to detect fraud and guarantee strict adherence to knowledge privateness rules.
Congress Member Karti Chidambaram additionally raised the problem of rising cyber frauds within the nation and needed to know what the federal government was doing to cease that.
Chidambaram additionally mentioned that the tyranny of KYC needs to be stopped as a number of calls are being acquired by individuals from their banks in a 12 months for updating the KYC particulars despite the fact that nothing has modified.
“With a purpose to make life simpler for the client they need to simplify and mandate that if there isn’t any change (in KYC) there isn’t any motive to replace your KYC a number of instances in a 12 months,” he mentioned.
Konda Vishweshwar Reddy (BJP) mentioned that among the many Invoice goals to enhance governance and all events ought to help it.
Arun Bharti of LJP (Ram Vilas) mentioned that schooling mortgage in Bihar needs to be made cheaper and collateral free.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)