Concerns over bank frauds ring loud in Par panel

Concerns over growing number of bank frauds rang out loud in the meeting of the Parliamentary panel on Estimates, which met on Wednesday and took stock of the rising NPAs.

The Standing Committee on Estimates headed by BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi, also elicited the views of outgoing Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian.

The committee snubbed ICICI Bank for sending a "junior" officer for making submissions before it.

The panel wanted to quiz the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of ICICI on the issue of challenges before the banking sector as well as the controversy over an alleged conflict of interest involving the bank's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chanda Kochhar, who has gone on leave, pending the completion of a probe.

Appearing before the panel, Subramanian 'sounded sceptic' over the handling of the mounting NPAs crisis, a panel member said. The outgoing CEA also had words of appreciation for former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan for identifying the lacuna and trying to resolve it, the member said.

Subramanian said he did not share the optimism of a number of bankers, who believe that the problem can be checked in a year or two.

During its two-day meeting, the Estimates Committee grilled representatives from finance ministry, RBI, three Public Sector Banks and private bank.