RBI governor to brief parliamentary panel on mounting NPAs

New Delhi: RBI Governor Urjit Patel will appear before a parliamentary panel on June 12, of which former prime minister Manmohan Singh is a member, to brief them about banking frauds and mounting non-performing assets (NPAs).

Patel will talk about the conditions of nationalised banks in view of rising NPAs and the future course of action to tackle bank frauds. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance is headed by senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily and has members from almost all major political parties.

Members of the panel said the governor of the central bank will also answer queries on a spate of banking scams unearthed in the last few months.

The committee was earlier briefed by Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar on the queries related to the banking sector. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who is a member of the committee, is likely to attend the meeting on June 12. Patel had recently said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) did not have adequate powers to deal with public sector banks.

“We would like to know what kind of powers the RBI governor needs,” a member said, adding that regulation is an important part and that is why the governor has been called.