FM Sitharaman to meet heads of HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank next week. What's on agenda
PremiumThe two-day conference, beginning November 17, would see participation from all public sector banks and financial institutions (FIs).
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to meet heads of banks and financial institutions next week to remove friction in credit flow to productive sectors of the economy battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two-day conference, beginning November 17, would see participation from all public sector banks and financial institutions (FIs).
Besides, CEOs of top six private sector lenders and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance, Shriram Transport Finance and Tata Capital, would also be present.
In a letter addressed to chairman and CEO of banks and financial institutions, the finance ministry said the two-day conference will focus on flow of credit into different sectors of the economy in a seamless manner.
Observing that bank credit is integral to economic activity, the letter said "traditionally, banks have been the main source of credit for various sectors of the economy and their lending operations have evolved in response to needs of the economy."
In order to better understand the ecosystem and related issues, it said, a stakeholders' conference is being organised on November 17-18 to be attended by Finance Minister and other top government officials.
The conference would be attended by secretaries representing various ministries to provide insight pertaining to initiatives or projects in pipeline of their respective ministries or departments that may require credit.
Industry association have also been invited to share their perspective in this regard, it added.
According to PTI sources, the two-day conference would also undertake a comprehensive review of various segments, progress in government schemes including Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
The meeting comes at a time when banks are undertaking outreach programmes to push lending in the productive sectors of the economy.
The meeting is expected to take stock of the banking sector, progress on restructuring 2.0 scheme announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), sources said, adding, the revamped ₹4.5 lakh crore Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) would also be reviewed during the meeting.
Besides, the Finance Minister is expected to take stock of the bad loan or non-performing asset (NPA) situation, and discuss various recovery measures by banks, they said.'staff accountability framework' for NPA accounts up to ₹50 crore.
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