No need to create fear over FRDI Bill, says Arun Jaitley
The bill is currently undergoing scrutiny by a joint parliamentary committee.
New Delhi: Allaying all pervading fears over the impending Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill, about which the general perception is that the common man’s deposits in banks could be frozen, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday assured the Lok Sabha that money of all depositors in public sector banks will be protected and there is no need to create any fear psychosis on it.
“The government is committed to protecting every depositor in public sector banks and therefore we need not create any fear psychosis,” he said while replying to a discussion on “Supplementary Demand for Grants — Second Batch for 2017-18”.
He added that “when the (FRDI) Bill comes before the joint committee please discuss this.
“There is 2011 G-20 commitment when UPA was in power and that was offtake of 2008 global crisis when the Lehman Brothers collapsed,” he said.
The Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill, 2017, introduced in the Lok Sabha in August this year, has a “bail-in” clause, which some experts say brings potential harm to deposits in the form of savings accounts.
The bill is currently undergoing scrutiny by a joint parliamentary committee.
“What do we do with that clause (bail-in). The committee has wise people which will make some recommendations. We will consider that. We are open minded. We are very clear and the level of protection the government would want would be much higher than level which existed till today,” the finance minister said.
The FRDI Bill proposes to create a framework for overseeing financial institutions such as banks, insurance companies, non-banking financial services (NBFC) companies and stock exchanges in case of insolvency.